J's Apprentice Back Story: Lester's Past
by WereDragon EX
Summary: This little tie-in to "J's Apprentice" by Johan07, details the past of Lester Dawson, the original character I submitted for the story. If anyone is curious on his past, this might shed some light.
1. The Cruelty of Pokemon Exploitation

Disclaimers: Pokemon is owned by Sastoshi Taijiri. "J's Apprentice" is owned by Johan07. I do however, own Lester and his back-story.

Note: This story details the past of Lester Dawson, the OC that I submitted for inclusion in "J's Apprentice" as one of the Chosen Elites. Hope you all enjoy it.

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"He who profits by a crime commits it." – Seneca

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_Viridian City, Kanto Region._

Viridian City. A small but vibrant city nestled just north of Pallet Town in the Kanto region. Due to its proximity to Pallet, many people from the town come here to do their daytime shopping, particularly since Pallet itself lacks the more developed infrastructure it possess. Speaking of which, at a clothing boutique in one of the city's shopping malls, we find a lady posing in a white sundress for her husband.

"Well, what do you think, darling?" asked a 24 year old woman with a well-sculpted figure.

"It looks great on you. I'd say you've gotten back into shape quite well since we had Lester those few months ago." replied her husband, a handsome 25 year old man who was currently juggling on his lap, a 6 month old baby boy with fine black hair.

_Meanwhile, outside the shopping mall._

"R2, this is R1. We are currently in position. What's your status?" A tall, lanky man dressed in a black jumpsuit with a black cap held a communicator in hand, awaiting instructions from his fellow squad commander. What was most distinctive about this man's clothes was a red "R" in the centre of his shirt. Behind him, 10 similarly dressed men stood at the ready, each clutching a Pokeball.

"R1, this is R2 replying. We are currently in position at Section C. The bank appears to be heavily guarded but it's nothing we can't handle. We are awaiting further instructions from your end."

That was the reply the Team Rocket squad commander was anticipating. He signaled his men to get ready to storm the shopping mall.

_Outside the bank next to the clothing boutique._

A big and burly security guard stood tall, with an Arcanine by his side, on the lookout for any suspicious activity or people who might threaten the security of the bank he worked for. Stored in its vaults were many valuables and Pokeballs, belonging to hundreds of clinets from across the Kanto region, some even from Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. The bank had built up a reputation for being one of the most secure companies in the Pokemon world, and the guard was determined to uphold that reputation. No one would be breaking in on his watch.

**BOOM!**

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard, setting off the alarms on the security system. The explosion had blown a large hole into the wall near the bank. A large flock of Golbat with some Crobat flew into the hole, with several Team Rocket grunts following their Pokemon. More grunts steamed in towards the bank from the neighboring stores. The guard tensed up. He knew what they were here for. Without any hesitation, he issued a command to his Pokemon.

"Arcanine, Flamethrower NOW!"

_Inside the clothing boutique._

Surprised by the noise and commotion outside, and seeing many Team Rocket grunts swarm the mall through the display window, Lester's parents scrambled to hide somewhere in the store, carrying their baby in tow. However, their escape was cut off by three Houndoom who indiscriminately fired off Heat Wave attacks into the store, in a bid to eliminate any witnesses to the bank robbery. Owing to the large amount of clothes in the boutique, it began to burn very heavily. The shocked gasps of Lester's parents caught the attention of one of the Houndoom, who shot a Heat Wave directly at them. The last thing they saw was a hot, suffocating breath of thin fire racing towards them.

_30 minutes later._

The fire department had just finished putting out any fires started by Team Rocket's Pokemon, and Officer Jenny was busy collecting eyewitness testimony from the security guard, who was still in shock at the sudden attack. Though he and his colleagues had managed to drive off the assailants, the police had a difficult time finding concrete proof that the bank was Team Rocket's target. Several nearby stores were badly torched and damaged, with at least 50 people killed in the infernos. Halfway through collecting the guard's statement, Jenny heard a faint cry coming from the remains of the boutique. A police officer sent into the shop to find the source of the noise emerged carrying the infant Lester in his arms. Lester was saved from being incinerated by the Heat Wave when his father had dropped him on the ground in shock at being attacked, sparing him from much of the fire and allowing him to breathe the oxygen which was concentrated on the ground, below the reach of the Houndoom's attack. The rest of his family unable to be contacted, Lester was sent to the Xanadu orphanage in his hometown of Pallet, the police only knowing his name from a birth certificate found among the charred remains of his parents.

_8 years later._

The Xanadu orphanage. Located in Pallet Town, its main goal, apart from raising orphaned children, was to provide them with a short but informative education on the opportunities and challenges faced by a Pokemon Trainer, to prepare the children for that path upon their 10th birthday. To that end, it had a special policy. When a child reached was 8, he or she was allowed to adopt a Pokemon brought from the Viridian City Pokemon Centre, in addition to the starter Pokemon he or she would receive from Professor Oak on his or her 10th birthday. It was the orphanage's way of making up for the lack of family the children had, by providing them with another Pokemon to care for. The Pokemon up for adoption were typically abandoned, weak, or otherwise undesirable to many Trainers. The orphanage aimed to eliminate those perceptions in the children. Lester may not have gotten along with many of the children, but he learned well in his classes and thrived, becoming a model student and somewhat of a teacher's pet. Eventually, the day of the Pokemon adoptions arrived.

"Now then, who can tell me what day today is?" asked the teacher.

Lester raised his hand.

"Yes, Lester?"

"Is today the day we get to select a Pokemon to be our friend and partner?"

"That's correct. And for being such a good student, I have decided that you get to pick first."

This elicited groans from the rest of the class. The teacher ignored them and opening the classroom door, allowing several Pokemon to walk, float or otherwise come in. Lester took notice of a rather frail and malnourished Nincada. Whoever picked the poor thing would be a source of constant ridicule, but Lester couldn't just stand there and watched. His heart went out to that poor Pokemon.

"Well, Lester, aren't you going to take your pick?"

"Yeah, I want that Nincada."

"How kind of you, that was the weakest Pokemon in the group. Nurse Joy even thought that he wasn't going to be adopted. He's yours. Nincada, come meet your new Trainer."

Lester walked up to Nincada and extended his hand towards the Pokemon. Hesitating slightly, the Pokemon walked up to Lester and began to stroke his hand with its forelegs, signifying his acceptance of Lester. Many children snickered at Lester for being a "loser" in choosing Nincada, but he ignored them and told his Pokemon to do the same, believing that they were capable of great things if they worked together. Everyone else soon chose their own Pokemon as well. The teacher decided to continue the class since that matter was settled.

"Alright then, class, remember that in a few days we will be visited by Professor Oak, who will be giving a presentation on the opportunities to be found from becoming a Pokemon Trainer."

Many cheers were heard from the class. Lester simply continued to stroke his new Nincada on the head.

_A week later._

As planned, Professor Oak arrived at the orphanage and began his presentation. But high above the skies of Pallet in a massive airship, a sinister plan was about to unfold.

"Sir, we have confirmed the target's location." a slim man informed a certain silver haired woman with googles and a form-fitting black jumpsuit.

"Excellent. Now get ready to attack that orphanage. Our client is paying big money for that Dragonite."

"Yes sir!"

_15 minutes later, in the orphanage's assembly hall._

"So you see kids. Here in the Kanto region, trainers can usually start with one of three Pokemon upon reaching their 10th birthday. They are the grass type Bulbasaur, the fire type Charmander, and Squirtle, which is a water type. When it is time for you to become Trainers, you have a choice of those three and I will remind you of that when you come to my lab." Professor Oak informed the group of assembled orphans, displaying a specimen of each of the three starter Pokemon.

_Meanwhile, outside the orphanage._

A certain silver haired woman was currently waiting outside the door of the orphanage, with many henchmen right behind her, all waiting for her command.

"Alright then, when that foolish old geezer reveals his Dragonite, storm the orphanage and get ready to subdue the Professor. This mission will be over before we know it." the silver haired woman assured her henchmen.

"But what is he doesn't reveal his Dragonite?" inquired one of the henchmen.

"THEN WE STORM IN ANYWAY AND TAKE THE PROFESSOR HOSTAGE, IDIOT!" screamed the woman, who then sighed in exasperation. Sometimes her henchmen lacked the most basic of human traits, common sense.

"Y-Yes sir." stuttered the henchman, who was currently scared stiff.

_Meanwhile, inside the orphanage._

"And now Professor Oak will be answering your questions. I trust that you have prepared some good, polite, and thoughtful questions for our guest here." the teacher informed the orphans.

One hand was raised.

"Yes, Kendall?"

"Professor Oak, what is your strongest Pokemon?"

Professor Oak frowned slightly.

"I do not regard any of my Pokemon as the strongest. It is important for Trainers to have a sense of equality when it comes to the strength of their Pokemon, as each one shines in its own regard and is capable of things others can only dream of. Therefore, it is important for every Trainer to treat each one of their Pokemon with love and respect. Even the most seemingly insignificant Pokemon can surprise us."

Lester raised his hand.

"Yes, Lester?"

"Professor Oak, can we see any of your Pokemon?"

Professor Oak smiled and released his Dragonite from one of his Pokeballs.

"Certainly, my boy, this is Dragonite, and he was one of my first Pokemon. I raised him from a Dratini…"

**BOOM!**

Professor Oak was rudely cut off as an explosion ripped through the orphanage, blowing the doors of their hinges. The heavy doors sailed through the air, one of them colliding with some of the children, instantly killing some and seriously wounding the others. They fell on the floor, pools of blood seeping across the floor and some merging together into a large crimson stream that flowed down the assembly hall. The other door was headed straight for Dragonite. Professor Oak wasted no time.

"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam to destroy that door."

Dragonite complied, sending a bright orange stream of energy towards the massive wooden door. The attack hit its target, causing large splinters to fly in every direction across the room. For the most part, any damage the door could have caused was averted. Henchmen began to march into the assembly hall. The orphanage's staff knew they had to jump into action. They hastily evacuated some of the orphans, Professor Oak, and his Dragonite, but in the confusion the terrified starter Pokemon were forgotten.

The henchmen, noticing their target escaping, began to give chase. But before they could, sinkholes appeared under their feet, causing some of them to trip and fall. The henchmen behind those unfortunate to fall also tripped up on their comrades, landing in a large heap on the floor. Lester smirked. His plan was working.

"Nincada, keep using Dig to trip those strange men up!"

Perhaps he spoke too loudly, but Lester's words attracted the attention of the henchmen, who were fuming that a small 8 year old boy was responsible for their embarrassing and compromising positions.

"That brat, I'm going to KILL him!" roared one of the men, getting up to chase Lester.

Lester ran with his Nincada towards the starter Pokemon, forgotten in the chaos, and knelt down in front of them, gathering them in his arms. He gave them a quick pep talk.

"Listen, I know we just met and all, but I'm sure you understand that we are being attacked by those men. I don't know who they are or what they want. But I'm pretty sure they aren't here to play. I need your help if we are to save everyone. What do you say?" asked Lester, holding out his hand to the three small Pokemon. They eyed each other for a brief moment, before rubbing Lester's hand in approval.

Lester smiled, knowing he could now depend on those Pokemon. By this time, Professor Oak had been evacuated, and the henchmen had gotten back up on their feet. The silver haired woman stalked into the orphanage, observing the death and destruction caused by the explosion. She was very surprised to see no sign of Professor Oak or his Dragonite.

"Well, where is the target?" she demanded in an irritated snarl, laced with the makings of a full-blown anger attack. She grabbed a henchman by the front of his shirt and glared straight into his eyes.

"T-They es-scaped, sir. W-We couldn't c-catch u-up to them because t-that boy tripped us up with his Nincada's Dig, s-sir." stuttered the frightened henchman. The silver haired woman furrowed her brow and released her henchman, turning her attention to Lester.

"So you are the pest who prevented my men from achieving their mission. Well, we won't be leaving empty-handed. Those starter Pokemon you have there would fetch quite a bit on the black market."

Lester tensed up. He may not have been completely aware of what the woman said, but he was sure that they wanted to steal the Pokemon he had. And he wasn't about to let that happen.

"You can't have these Pokemon! They're my friends! And I won't let you take them away from me!" The four Pokemon surrounding Lester roared their agreement at his words. Suddenly, a thought came to the silver haired woman. That boy seemed to form a good bond with those Pokemon he scarcely knew, and managed to rally them together quite well. Surely such interpersonal skill was a sign of great talent. If she had the boy on her side, he would make an ideal henchman or maybe she could train him as an apprentice. That might just work. Now persuading him to join her would be a waste of time, seeing as he was determined to oppose her. The only way to go now was to kidnap him. She issued her instructions to her henchmen.

"Get those Pokemon and subdue the boy. But don't kill him. I have plans for him." Her henchmen were puzzled by her instructions, but they were taught not to question her.

"Yes sir!" The henchmen released a large amount of Golbat and Graveler, ready to give Lester the fight of his life. Lester narrowed his left eye, knowing that getting out of this mess wasn't going to be easy. He made the first move.

"Nincada, use Fury Swipes. Squirtle, Bubble. Bulbasaur, Leech Seed. And Charmander, use Ember!" Fortunately, Lester had been paying attention in class and knew what moves the starter Pokemon were expected to know at that stage in their lives. The Pokemon hastily obeyed, all attacking in a fury, but their attacks were quickly nullified by a barrage of Air Cutters from the Golbat. Secretly, in the confusion, one of the henchmen snuck up behind Lester with an aluminum baseball bat. He swung the bat silently and brought it down hard on Lester's head. Lester suddenly felt his vision start spinning and his eyes had the urge to close. Before he knew it, everything went blank.

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Author's Notes: And that is the first part of Lester's back-story. This is my first multi-chaptered story and my third story overall. I hope I did well on it. My thanks go out to Johan07, who so skillfully crafted "J's Apprentice" and allowed so many of us to submit our own original characters, letting us become a part of the tale as well. Our suspense has been held quite well with that story. I must also thank Johan07 for so kindly allowing me to write this story and having the patience to beta-read and approve it as well. I just hope Lester's speech to the starter Pokemon didn't come across as being too cliché. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


	2. The Brutal Recruitment

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1.

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"As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery." – Martin Luther King Jr.

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_

The next day, somewhere in the skies of Kanto.

If there is one unpleasant thing about getting knocked out, apart from the actual hit itself, it probably is that dizzying sensation one gets when he comes around. Lester is no exception to that rule. Flashes of light penetrated his closed eyelids, prompting them to furrow involuntarily. They eventually opened though, and everything began to come back into focus. The spinning image Lester perceived eventually stabilized, and the first thing he saw clearly was the same silver haired woman from before shining a flashlight in his eyes. Instinctively, he tried to tilt his head away from the blinding light, but found the movement of his head restricted. Closer examination revealed that Lester was currently tied to a chair with steel cables. His hands were separately bound together behind his back. An unusual black metal collar was shackled around his neck, preventing him from properly turning his head. The silver haired woman spoke.

"I see you're finally awake."

Still groggy from being woken so abruptly, Lester struggled to comprehend the gravity of his current situation. He only barely heard what the woman said and only managed to slightly nod his head in reply, prompting the woman to continue.

"You had quite the nerve, and the guts to stand up to my men at the orphanage. I doubt you knew what you were getting into, boy, but I must admire that fleeting glimpse of courage and skill you showed. Those Pokemon bonded with you well, even though you only just met."

At the mention of the Pokemon, Lester snapped awake.

"T-The Pokemon? M-My Nincada, what have you done with him?"

"Oh, that thing?" The silver haired woman put away her flashlight and snapped her fingers. A henchman brought in Lester's Nincada, bound in the same cables that tied him to the chair. Nincada was then set down beside his Trainer. The presence of his Pokemon temporarily alleviated Lester's anxiety, but then he remembered.

"Where are Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle?"

"I have decided to sell them, they will be worth quite the bundle as a three piece set."

Hearing creatures with a heart and soul being described that way disgusted Lester, but there was little he could do about it.

"Can I at least see them one last time?" he asked.

The silver haired woman frowned, but decided to fulfill this wish. If he was going to be her apprentice, it was better to appease him now and reduce his chances of rebellion in the long run. That would just make life difficult for her. She snapped her fingers, and Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle were brought into the room, also bound in cables. Even a casual observer could see the scared expressions on the faces of those young Pokemon. The cruelty dealt to the Pokemon caused Lester to see red. It also reminded him of the fact that he was knocked out and taken captive. What happened next was something neither he, nor anyone else in the room that day could explain.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHERE AM I? WHY DID YOU ATTACK THE ORPHANAGE? WHY DID YOU KILL THOSE INNOCENT ORPHANS? THEY DID NOTHING TO YOU! WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT ME HERE? WHAT IS THIS THING AROUND MY NECK? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE POKEMON?"

Lester's sudden angry outburst and barrage of questions took everyone off by surprise. There was something about this boy that no one could quite place their fingers on. One minute ago he was meek and submissive, now he was screaming at the top of his lungs and struggling against the cables, causing the chair to start rocking and putting it in danger of tipping over. The silver haired woman's expression changed from shocked to angry in a matter of seconds. Who was this boy and how dare he speak to her like that? He should be grateful that his life was spared! He would be her apprentice, but he needed to be put in his place first. Her reply to Lester's outburst came quickly.

"DO NOT yell at me, boy. Who do you think you are? You should count your lucky stars your life hasn't evaded you yet!"

"SO WHAT? YOU BROUGHT ME HERE AGAINST MY WILL AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BE GRATEFUL? WHO DO _YOU _THINK YOU ARE?!" came the reply she got from Lester.

That was all it took to set the silver haired woman off. She brought out her flashlight again, only this time she held it by the head, revealing the handle to be made of solid steel. Before Lester could blink, she dealt him a savage hit to the left cheek with the handle of her flashlight. An audible crack was heard. The Pokemon gasped.

Lester winched in pain and spat out a tooth, covered in blood. The handle had cracked off a tooth which cut his cheek, causing him to still taste blood in his mouth. A new tooth would grow in its place in a few years, but that didn't discount the fact that the experience was extremely painful.

The starter Pokemon responded swiftly. They may have been bound at the limbs, but the henchmen had missed their mouths. Though it was too weak to burn through the cables, Charmander's Ember attack, fired in all directions, managed to singe the clothes of some of the henchmen. Squirtle's Bubble hit a machine in the room, the small, short bursts of moisture causing it to short circuit. Bulbasaur's Leech Seed landed on some of the henchmen ensnaring them in vines and causing them to fall on their backs. Nincada wanted desperately to join in on the assault, but couldn't since none of his attacks were useable while he was bound. It seemed that the hit Lester took triggered an emotional response in the Pokemon.

The silver haired women snarled in anger at the damage caused and the ensuring chaos. Several of her henchmen had released their Golbat form their Pokeballs, who proceeded in attempting to restore order. Several Air Cutter attacks from the Golbat converged on Bulbasaur, the hits from the type advantageous moves knocking him out instantly, collapsing on his belly without a noise. A Graveler shot a Stone Edge attack on Charmander, knocking him to the floor and causing the poor Pokemon to cry in agony before fainting. The silver haired woman smirked, seeing two of the troublemaking Pokemon down. She decided to deal with the last one personally. Her hand reached for a Pokeball in her pocket.

"Strike fast, Manectric!"

The Pokeball opened; emitting a stream of white light which converted into a quadruped blue wolf-like Pokemon with a yellow mane and yellow clumps of fur above its hind legs and on its front paws.

"Use Thunder Fang on that pathetic Squirtle!"

Owing to its speed, Manectric disappeared from sight and quickly reappeared behind the little turtle. Mouth opened and fangs bared, the Pokemon bit down on the back of Squirtle's head, sending powerful charges of electricity into his system. The Squirtle convulsed due to the charge soursing through its veins, screaming its name in pain. Manectric released Squirtle, the turtle falling on its belly. If one could see his face, the most noticeable feature at that instant in time would be the swirly eyes, signifying Squirtle's defeat.

It wasn't so much watching his befriended Pokemon get knocked down that distressed Lester. It was watching them get knocked down while they were bound and unable to dodge that did. He was disgusted by the shameless way the silver haired woman and her henchmen dealt with the matter. His anger flared up, especially at the merciless way those Pokemon were defeated. The silver haired woman turned to glare at him, for some reason believing he was responsible for the chaos that ensued a few minutes ago. Lester couldn't believe his eyes, she knocked out his tooth, inciting the Pokemon to attack, and she blames him? Lester glared back, defiance flashing in his brown eyes.

That gesture agitated the woman, and she pulled out a remote control, pressing the button.

The reaction was instantaneous. A faint cackling sound was heard from the collar on Lester's neck, sending an electric shock through his system. Lester screamed in pain and began to convulse on the chair. The silver haired woman smirked and kicked the chair over. Lester hit his heads on the floor and within roughly an hour of him regaining consciousness, everything went blank again. Nincada turned away, unable to watch the sight.

The collar was turned off, and the silver haired woman surveyed the damage done. A machine in the room had short circuited, cackling with sparks. A few of her henchmen were on the ground, with their clothes singed. Some were tied in vines. All this will take quite a while to fix. Still, she could not shake off the sudden change in mood in the boy. It was almost as if it was another person talking to her. What had gotten over him? The henchmen were whispering amongst themselves, though they were not being too discrete about it.

"If those Pokemon acted that way because of what happened to the boy, do they already have a strong bond with him?"

"It's possible. What will happen if we sold those Pokemon to a client? They might rebel against him or her, and that will not be good for our business."

"Or our reputation."

"Still, those Pokemon have potential, judging from what happened."

The silver haired woman frowned. She did not like what she heard, but her henchmen did have a point. Selling those Pokemon to a client was definitely out of the question now. But they were rare Pokemon. Starter Pokemon did have a reputation for being powerful if raised to their final evolved forms in the right hands. Lester's hands seemed like the right ones. It would be a shame to derive her future apprentice of those Pokemon partners, seeing as he had made so much progress with them. She sighed.

"Bring the brat to his new room, and give him those Pokemon."

One of the walls in the room had a two-way mirror. Looking at it from inside the typically lit room, one would see his own reflection like a normal mirror. But if one was in the typically darkened adjacent room, he would have a clear view of what was happening on the other side of the wall. The mirror was installed because the large room Lester was currently in would later be converted into a training/battling room, the mirror being there so observers could watch in the adjacent room without disturbing the battlers. Speakers were also installed in the adjacent room so observers could hear what was going on.

A girl roughly Lester's age sat in the adjacent room. She had been watching and listening to everything since Lester regained consciousness. The girl had silver hair as well. Her name was Jen, and she was the daughter of the silver haired woman tormenting Lester. She was instructed to sit in the room and watch how Lester was treated, as an example for when she would eventually take over the Pokemon hunting business from her mother. The girl looked on, with no expression evident on her face.

_6 hours later._

Lester awoke, once again shaking off the dizziness, this time clutching his head in pain. Perhaps it came from being knocked out twice, but Lester couldn't care about that now. Examining his new surroundings, Lester noted that he was sitting on a comfortable bed. Looking around the room, Lester noted the presence of a nightstand, closet, bookshelf, TV mounted on the wall, desk, and bathroom. The open closet was full of jumpsuits resembling the one worn by the silver haired woman, in a smaller size. A box was on the nightstand.

Peering inside the box, Lester found four Pokeballs and a note. His curiosity prompted, Lester picked it up and began to read.

_To the boy who caused me so much trouble,_

_If you are reading this, you are obviously awake. Let me tell you upfront that I was not impressed by your show of defiance towards me. If you keep this up, expect to be severely punished by me. Your future is not looking too bright, so I suggest that you do not aggravate me any further._

_That was a large barrage of questions you shot me earlier. May I take this opportunity to warn you to NEVER speak to me that way again. Anyways, count your lucky stars that I have decided to answer your questions._

_I am what you call a Pokemon Hunter. If they didn't teach you this at school, we steal Pokemon and sell them for profit. I'm sure you will agree that it is a empowering feeling to have all that money in your pocket, and what an easy way to get it than to steal Pokemon. After all, those Trainers do all the hard work in raising their Pokemon, it's easier just to take them rather than raise them ourselves. I attacked the orphanage to steal Professor Oak's Dragonite, but as we all know, you got in my way. You have potential, boy, even if you do not realize it. You should be thanking me for seeing that in you._

_And now we get to the matter of why you are here. You are on my airship, and it brings me across the Pokemon world, due to how rare some species can be. I have taken you from the orphanage because I want you to become my new apprentice. Your skill and potential was evident to me when you quickly bonded with those Pokemon Professor Oak brought, even if they barely knew you. Before you try being a smart aleck by refusing my generous offer, I will inform you that you have no choice in the matter. If you refuse, you may find yourself six feet under._

_The collar around your neck is what I like to call an "Electrode". As you have experienced earlier, it will emit an electrical shock should you choose to disobey me. I can vary the shock you receive and it may very well kill you, so I hope you don't get any ideas._

_Consider yourself lucky that I have decided to let you keep your pathetic Nincada. I have also decided to give you the starter Pokemon I stole, since they won't listen to anyone else. Those Pokemon will be your partners from now on. Your training will start in four days, so I suggest that you bond with your Pokemon as much as possible. Do not make me regret my decision in letting you keep them._

_Stay in line or you will regret it._

_Your mistress._

Feeling utterly trapped and defeated by the words contained by the letter, Lester did find some happiness in being allowed to keep those Pokemon. A wave of regret washed over him on the thought that those Pokemon were dragged into this mess because he decided to play the hero back at the orphanage. Lester let out a sigh and picked up the Pokeballs, moving to release the Pokemon contained within. He would drop to his knees and beg for their forgiveness for getting them involved in this mess. Lester opened the Pokeballs and the Pokemon assembled in front of him. Lester was already on his knees.

"I-I'm sorry. I acted without thinking in the or-orphanage and b-brought you all into this. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness and I…"

Lester didn't get the chance to finsh his sentence as his new Pokemon rushed towards him and brought him into a group hug. They were not angry at Lester, just worried sick about him. Lester allowed a few tears to fall, truly touched by this kind gesture. But he dreaded what was to come in the next few days, for he and his Pokemon would be pushed to their limits.

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Author's Notes: Basically, this chapter details the start of Lester's life as J's mother's apprentice. Johan07 did present a family dynasty of Pokemon hunters in "J's Apprentice". This chapter is somewhat based the first few chapters of "J's Apprentice", but I hope there isn't too much overlap. It is also where Lester's angry personality emerges for the first time. Lester obtaining all three starter Pokemon represents one of my wishes for the video games in future. They did make a start by letting you catch Torchic in the wild on a PokeWalker course in HeartGold and SoulSilver, even if you can only obtain the course through an event. Isn't life great if you don't have to choose? If Lester seemed quite mature for an 8 year old, it is because he was forced to grow up quickly in the orphanage, devoid of a proper family. Many thanks to Johan07 for beta-reading this chapter. Anyways, reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


	3. Solemnity Before Birth

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1. Any similarities in jokes here to others you may have seen are purely coincidental.

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"This is where Dad buried the little raccoon. I didn't even know he existed a few days ago and now he's gone forever. It's like I found him for no reason. I had to say good-bye as soon as I said hello." – Calvin, Excerpt from the March 16, 1987 _Calvin and Hobbes _comic by Bill Watterson

* * *

Four days. To some people, it all passes it a heartbeat. Yet to others, it drags on at a pace slower than that of water dripping down a stalactite in a cave. From the time Lester woke up in his new room, those days were ticking down. A mere four days after his kidnapping at the hands of a mysterious Pokemon hunter, Lester was set to begin his training as her new apprentice.

Almost all of that time was spent in his room, for Lester did not really dare to venture outside onto the airship, for fear that he would get lost. Perhaps he would be given a tour later. Every day, breakfast, lunch and dinner was brought to him, and Lester casually ate what he received. It was probably a gesture to earn his trust, but Lester couldn't help it if he was hungry. As a way to pass the time, Lester decided to take the advice given to him in the letter, and bond with his new Pokemon partners. One of the ways good relationships are built is the form a bond of trust, and what better way to strengthen that bond than to tell one's life story? Nincada had already heard the story, while Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle proved to be quite the patient listeners, looking attentively at Lester as he filled them in on his past up to that point. After all was said and done, Lester couldn't help but try to apologize again for being the reason they were in this mess, but his new Pokemon won't hear any of it, insisting that they were all in it together, prompting Lester to shed more tears of happiness, knowing that they had his back.

Lester spent the few days he had before his first training session playing and bonding with his Pokemon. After all, he was still a kid, and still wanted to have some fun with his Pokemon. He dearly hoped this was one of the few things that won't be taken from him while he was shackled in the silver haired woman's employ. Another thing that stayed the same was Lester's enthusiasm for documentaries, which didn't die down after he was kidnapped, as that was one of the ways he did well in his classes. However, he had to compete with the other orphans for an opportunity to watch what he wanted on the television. Now, he had his own TV in his room, and planned to make the most use of it, watching what he wanted with his Pokemon, a luxury he didn't always have at the orphanage.

_The day of the training session arrives._

According to a message he received the previous day, Lester was supposed to show up in the airship's training room at 10 o'clock after eating his breakfast, the same room he first awoke in when he was brought on the airship. The renovations were completed, and the room had just been completed in time for Lester's session. He donned one of the black jumpsuits in his closet and headed out. On the way, he got slightly lost and wandered into a men's restroom by accident.

The restroom was just like the ones found in public places, with a sleek, modern feel to it. At this point in time however, it was empty except for Lester. But what really caught his attention was a sign prominently displayed on the wall, in between two mirrors. Lester rubbed his eyes a few times, just to confirm that they weren't playing tricks on him. When it became evident that there was nothing wrong with his eyes, Lester's calm expression immediately melted away, a smirk formed at his lips, and he began to laugh.

"Please focus on your aim." stated the sign, "Stand closer to your target, for your _**"Big John" **_isn't as long as you think. I am seriously sick and tired of finding out repeatedly that someone has made a mess in here. If I catch anyone responsible, he will be made to service all the vans by himself for a week. Signed, Jane."

It was not so much his laugh that was odd about Lester's current state; it was the fact that his laugh greatly resembled that of an insane madman, and it was extremely loud. Lester laughed and laughed for minutes, not taking his eyes of the sign, and reveling in the unintended dose of humor the maker put into it, though the original intention was sarcasm. Lester couldn't help but wonder if anyone else found the sign funny.

Outside the restroom, many henchmen minding their business quickly hurried past the restroom's door after hearing the laughter from within, getting the misguided idea that their employer had suddenly decided to install a mental asylum cell in the restroom.

Meanwhile, Lester was laughing at the sign so hard, his sides were splitting, the pain finally prompting him to stop. Before he could head on his merry way however, an idea for a simple prank popped up in his head. Dashing into each of the stalls in the restroom, Lester quickly yanked all of the toilet paper off their cardboard rolls and pocketed it. Taking out a ballpoint pen, Lester scrawled a cheeky message on each of the cardboard rolls for anyone unlucky enough to fall for his prank.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Sucks to be you! Good luck getting out of here with your dignity intact." wrote Lester on all the toilet paper rolls.

Lester emerged from the last stall still chuckling over what he did. Lester's snickers eventually died out and his face returned to its previous calm, orderly state. Lester was about to exit the room when something told him he should look at the sign one last time before leaving the restroom. The sign's message was printed out on a flat, framed piece of metal, but what drew Lester to it this time was the name at the end, it was hand-singed instead.

"Jane" muttered Lester. He pulled out the handwritten letter he received when he woke up in his new room four days ago. Sure enough the signature on the sign matched the writing on Lester's letter, making him come to a conclusion. The silver haired woman's name was Jane.

"Interesting. Wonder if I should call her Jane from now on?" Lester mused, as he walked out into the corridor. Before he could walk the turn in the corridor, something took hold of him and he began his manic laughter again.

_5 minutes later._

"WHERE WERE YOU?! YOU'RE TEN MINUTES LATE! AND STOP LAUGHING! WHAT AM I? A COMEDIAN?!"

Lester, overwhelmed by laughter, ignored the Jane's shout and sauntered into the training room. Jokes were emerging from the depths of his mind.

"Oooo….How do you make a Electablu? Make an Electabuzz HOLD ITS BREATH! HAHAHAHAHA! Oh! Oh! Oh! I have another one! How do you fit 5,000 Wailords in this room? You Poke-em-on! AHAHAHA!"

Jane was dumbfounded by her apprentice's attitude from the minute he entered the room. He was laughing like there was no tomorrow. What had gotten into him? He was now so different from the normally calm boy she first met, and the angry problem child was yelled at her a few days ago. Either way, this was something she couldn't tolerate.

"Get your laughing ass on the track and run ten laps NOW before I am tempted to turn that shock collar of yours on!"

And so every day, Lester was put through an intense training regiment spanning many hours a day, until he felt ready to die from exhaustion. To further "motivate" him, small shocks were sent to him through the collar to "wake him up" whenever it seemed that he would faint. The collar would also occasionally cackle slightly, indicating Lester's will to persevere. He knew that he would eventually have to partake in Jane's business policy of using Pokemon for profit, and he dreaded the inevitable approach of that day.

_8 months later_

Within the months Lester had been on the airship, he had managed to increase his own physical fitness significantly and train his Pokemon to cooperate well as an organized unit. One of the first things on his agenda for his Pokemon was to train them to better withstand type advantageous attacks. If anything, they were the scourge of Trainers everywhere, especially when an opponent uses a few on your Pokemon and expects it to be down. Lester wanted to shatter that expectation if any his future opponents held it. Observing the look on their faces when they see their "advantageous" attacks seemingly do little damage to his Pokemon would certainly make his day. One morning, a week after his 9th birthday, Lester was called to the airship's control room, where Jane would be waiting.

_Inside the airship's control room._

"Ah. There you are, Lester, I don't suppose you know why I called you here, do you?" asked Jane. Lester didn't respond. Taking his silence for a no, Jane decided to continue talking.

"I have called you in because you are about to go on your first mission with me as my apprentice. Wouldn't the public be surprised when they discover that I have taken you under my wing? Anyway, that's beside the point. Here is what the mission entails."

Lester listened attentively as he was told that the mission involved stealing a Togepi egg from a breeding house in Eggseter, Johto. Because of the extreme rarity of the species, the breeding house had dyed all their Togepi eggs to look like the eggs of other Pokemon, to help protect them from poachers and thieves. Lester sighed. It was a terrible tragedy to him that a Pokemon he considered to be the epitome of happiness and innocence should wind up in the hands of an ill-intentioned client even before it was born. What pure-hearted person would pay a Pokemon hunter to obtain a Togepi, much less any Pokemon? It hit especially close to home that an egg can't defend itself, and was vulnerable to its environment. It also disgusted Lester that the client would be the first person Togepi sees when it hatches. Togepi as a species considers the first person they see upon hatching to be a parent. Lester shuddered to think of a successful outcome for his first mission.

Before he could continue his thoughts, Jane pulled out a pair of sleek black goggles and put them on, tossing another pair to Lester, explaining that they were a new piece of technology her organization had developed. The goggles had the ability to detect heat and could discern if a Pokemon was hidden or transformed. They could also tell the user what moveset a Pokemon had if scanned. The goggles were Jane's way of finding out which eggs contained Togepi. The breeding house could change their Pokemon egg's color, but they couldn't disguise the amounts of heat given off by the eggs, without potentially harming the baby Pokemon inside. The heat given off by an egg differed by species, and the goggles could pick up on those differences. Finding Togepi eggs would be easy if a person knew how much heat was generated by one. Lester glared at the googles in his hands, shattering his hopes that the egg would be undiscovered. His stern look went unnoticed by Jane.

_The next morning, Eggseter, Johto Region._

Eggseter was a relatively peaceful town in Johto, famous for its annual Extreme Pokemon Race, a competition attended by many Trainers around the planet. While the competition was not being held, a distinct feature in the town for visitors was its breeding house, a sanctuary for Pokemon eggs, which were hatched and raised until the Pokemon were old enough to be introduced to the wild or adopted by beginning Trainers. Run by Mr. Shellby and his wife, the breeding house was typically peaceful and tranquil, until today.

Peering through a pair of binoculars, one of Jane's henchmen spotted the man sitting out on a chair at the front lawn, smiling as he observed two Pichu playing on the grass. The henchman smirked. The target seemed relatively unguarded. Snagging that egg would be a cakewalk. He raised the signal for his comrades to begin the raid on the breeding house.

Hearing his wife scream for help, Mr. Shellby looked up, and was caught off guard when he saw a Golem use Rollout, tearing a hole in his fence. Six henchmen charged into this breach, running across the front lawn, headed straight for him, with a nine year old boy and a woman, both in black jumpsuits casually walking in behind them. Paralysed by fear, Mr. Shellby could only look on in shock as one of the henchmen lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. Unable to resist, Mr. Shellby grasped the henchman's hand, trying in vain to loosen his grip. The woman stalked up to him and began to speak.

"Alright, I'm not known for my patience, Shellby. So I'll only say this once. Where are your Togepi eggs?"

Mr. Shellby gasped, realizing that Pokemon hunters were after the eggs he strove to protect. Knowing that a slip up could be the end for him, he decided to try and stall for time.

"I-I don't know w-what you are talking about. You see, I don't have a Togepi egg here at the moment. Please let my wife and I go." This only served to infuriate the woman.

"Do not lie to me! I know that you have a Togepi egg here somewhere. My intel and my client confirmed it! So I will ask again, where do you keep your Togepi eggs?"

"I-I'm telling you the truth, I swear! There are no Togepi eggs here!"

"So, that's how you want to play, huh? Very well, then. Tie him and his wife up and leave them out here. Now my apprentice, you look inside the house while I will search the yard."

A henchman shoved Lester on the back, prompting him to move into the house to look. Lester hesitated, before reluctantly walking slowly inside. The house's living room had three shelves full of eggs, which Lester was instructed to scan with his goggles and see if a Togepi egg was to be found. Lester began to hesitate again. The henchmen who followed him inside were beginning to get impatient.

"What are you waiting for, boy? Don't tell me you're having second thoughts. If you don't get moving, you know the consequences." a henchman remarked, waving the remote control that activates Lester's shock collar.

Lester sighed, knowing that he had no choice. He pressed the button on his goggles to conduct a thermal scan of the shelves to search for the distinct heat pattern given off by the eggs. He knew that Togepi eggs here were disguised to look like eggs from other species, but the heat signature will still be the same. It would be hard for the egg Lester was searching for the escape detection, but Lester still hoped that it would.

Finding nothing of interest on the first shelf, Lester shifted his attention to the next one, also failing to find what he was searching for here. Before he could get to his third shelf, one of his henchmen received a transmission on his earpiece that Jane had found the egg in the yard. He also received orders to torch the breeding house to destroy evidence and to escape out the back door. Upon hearing this, all the henchmen proceeded to the rear of the house, while the one who received the transmission sent out his Houndoom. Lester was puzzled.

"What are you doing?"

"We are to leave the premises immediately, by orders from Jane. I have also received orders to incinerate this place to dispose of our evidence." replied the henchman.

"What about the eggs?" asked Lester. The henchman shrugged.

"Not my problem. They're just collateral damage. Houndoom, use Flamethrower on the shelves!"

The Houndoom reluctantly complied, shooting a stream of flame at the top left corner of the top level of the first shelf, sweeping to the right. The attack struck the eggs hard. Some of them exploded from the intense heat applied to their shells, spraying the bubbling fluid inside in all directions. Pokemon fetuses in various stages of development dropped to the floor from the shelf their eggs once laid on, some of them twitching and squirming slightly. Still others fell to the ground and shattered on impact, shell fragments scattering across the floor.

Lester's eyes began to water up, but the henchman didn't notice, too busy observing his Houndoom destroy the eggs on the first shelf. Memories of the children who died at the orphanage began to flood Lester's thoughts. Those children could have grown up to become Trainers, Coordinators, Champions, and Gym Leaders, but now the world would never get to see their potential. It was even worse for the eggs. The Pokemon inside would never get to see the world or experience the joy of accompanying a Trainer on his or her journey. Their lives ended on the floor of the breeding house before they even began. Lester felt helpless to stop the destruction here. Each egg had the potential to become a powerful Pokemon inside, and Lester would have loved to meet each and every one of them. He never knew of their existence before today, and they had no idea he was currently mourning them in his thoughts. His heart felt too heavy for his chest to hold. By the time Lester snapped out of his thoughts, the Houndoom had finished burning two shelves of eggs to a crisp. Fetuses were lying all over the floor, which was now slippery from the fluid once contained in the eggs. The henchman walked over to the third shelf, the one Lester was standing next to. He knew he had to act now. He couldn't save all the eggs, but it would mean everything to him if he could save just one. The henchman barked out an order to his Pokemon.

"Houndoom, Flamethrower!"

Once again, streams of fire erupted from the Pokemon's mouth, sweeping from left to right across the top level of the shelf. Soon, the stream of fire would also completely destroy this shelf. Lester grabbed one of his Pokeballs, not knowing which of his Pokemon was picked, and opened the ball.

Nincada popped out, and was immediately surprised at the burning carnage in the room, and the Houndoom who was torching the shelf. He looked at his Trainer, who obviously had a very good reason for calling him out.

Lester flinched slightly. Being a bug and ground type Pokemon, Nincada was weak to fire type moves, but they was no time to dwell on that now. The henchman was too busy watching his Houndoom to notice what Lester was doing next to the shelf. Lester issued his Pokemon a command.

"Nincada, I know this will hurt, but shield one of the eggs from that Flamethrower. I don't care which one. As long as one of them survives…"

Before Lester could properly finish his sentence, Nincada leapt in front of an egg at the second lowest level of the third shelf and landed in front of it. He screeched in pain as the Flamethrower struck him but continued to stand strong. The henchman noticed the intrusion and was not pleased.

"What are you doing? You traitor…Take this!"

The henchman didn't have the remote for Lester's collar with him, so he moved to send out another Pokemon. Meanwhile, Nincada was buckling under the stress and pressure coming from the relentless heat of the fire type attack. The skin on his back was beginning to split. A wind like attack shot out from Nincada's position and struck Houndoom, causing it to winch. While it didn't do much damage, it caused the Pokemon to stop the Flamethrower. Something vaguely resembling Nincada, blackened with scorch marks, fell to the floor from the shelf. Nincada was nowhere to be seen, but the egg he was protecting was unscathed. The henchman chuckled.

"Looks like your feeble attempt to save an egg has failed, and your Pokemon there has suffered for it. Now then, Houndoom use…"

Before the henchman could issue an order, the floor under Houndoom buckled and cracked. The fire dog looked down and shrieked in surprise as it fell down the hole into the house's basement. The henchman's eyes widened. He could see a hole in front of the shelf next to the blackened form resembling Nincada.

"What, b-but how? Your Pokemon has fainted!" Lester smirked.

"Not exactly."

A small Pokemon shot out of the hole. It resembled a small insect, with a yellow head, red eyes, two gray forearms, black abdomen, and four white wings, the upper wings accented by red triangles. Lester let out a small smile. His first Pokemon had evolved. The henchman was dumbfounded.

"What is that thing? Your Pokemon is over there!" he gestured at the scorched form lying in front of the shelf. Lester sighed. It seemed like he was the only one who knew that a Nincada could evolve into two Pokemon at once: Ninjask and Shedinja. He also realized what happened. When Nincada was struck by the Flamethrower, it had evolved. The attack hit the Shedinja in front, instantly knocking it out, while Ninjask used Silver Wind and took advantage of Houndoom's distraction to burrow under the floor and emerge under it, using Dig to send it falling into the basement. Lester wasted no time.

"Ninjask, grab the egg!"

Ninjask obeyed, using it blinding speed to swipe the egg from the shelf, handing it to Lester. Lester quickly pulled out an empty Pokeball and aimed it at the fainted Shedinja, drawing it inside. Lester ran out the room and eventually out the back door, Ninjask following behind his trainer. The henchman growled.

"That brat, interfering like that…When I get my hands on him…" He recalled his Houndoom and ran out the back door like Lester. Once outside, he sent it out again and had it use Flamethrower on the house. The lawn was burning by the time he left the breeding house.

Tied up outside their home, Mr. Shellby and his wife looked in horror as their home burned. It could be rebuilt, but his heart ached for the unborn Pokemon who surely must have perished in the blaze. If only one of them survived, it would be a miracle. Unbeknownst to him, Lester was carrying an egg as the mini airship took off into the distance.

Inside the airship, Lester got to properly examine the egg Ninjask and Shedinja managed to save. It was a bright yellow, with duck-like footprints on its shell. Lester and Ninjask smiled, realizing that they had saved a Psyduck egg. Jane noticed the egg and was not pleased that her apprentice has salvaged it, when she had ordered them all destroyed. She contemplated ordering him to throw it out the window, but realized that he might rebel if she did. So she reluctantly allowed him to keep it, provided it didn't become a liability. She had the Togepi egg she was searching for, and nothing else should matter.

_4 months later, airship's training room._

"Charmeleon, use Flamethrower!"

Lester smiled as his newly evolved Charmeleon complied, sending streams of flame spiraling at Shedinja, who was now dodging them to the best of its ability. Lester's other Pokemon watched in awe as Shedinja kept darting around the room, avoiding the shots of fire. Lester decided to give his Pokemon a heads-up.

"Remember Shedinja, if one of those attacks hits you, you will instantly faint. So keep that in mind if an opponent uses a rock, ghost, dark, flying, or fire type move. Just try not to faint. If you do…well, it would be slightly tedious for me to revive you." Since Nincada evolved, Lester carried a steady supply of Revives just in case any of his Pokemon fainted, Shedinja especially. It helps if none of his Pokemon were incapacitated on a mission.

Shedinja nodded and kept dodging attacks from Charmeleon. Suddenly, Lester's other Pokemon shouted to get his attention, causing Charmeleon and Shedinja to stop their activities. Lester turned his head to see that the egg, watched over by Ninjask, was beginning to crack. Lester, Charmeleon, and Shedinja rushed over to see the top of the egg develop cracks all over. A white domed head could be seen, which spread open into spikes. Lester blinked in surprise, this didn't look like a Psyduck. He didn't scan the egg with his goggles because he was sure that it was a Psyduck. Feet emerged from the bottom of the shell. A Togepi was born. The difference was that its shell was yellow with Psyduck footprints on it, due to the dye applied to its egg to disguise it. It would disappear if and when Togepi evolved. The newborn Pokemon opened its eyes and blinked, Lester's face being consigned to its memory. A smile beamed over Lester's face. He felt it a blessing to have this rare, yet gentle Pokemon. It was also a great 10th birthday surprise for him.

"Hi Togepi, my name is Lester."

Togepi squealed in delight and took slow tentative steps toward him. Lester picked up the Pokemon and embraced it. His other Pokemon smiled at the heartwarming sight, remembering the circumstances by which Lester had obtained the egg.

When Jane discovered that Lester's egg hatched into a Togepi, she was infuriated that she couldn't sell it since it had already bonded with Lester, and won't listen to a client. First those starter Pokemon, now that Togepi. Her apprentice seemed to have a way with cheating her out of rare and valuable Pokemon.

_2 years later, airship's control room._

Within the four years that Jane had taken on Lester as an apprentice, she couldn't help but wonder and be slightly disturbed with his behavior. He was usually calm, knowledgeable, and collected. Occasionally however, she noticed that he was prone to violent behavior, snapping at almost everyone in rage, spending much of his time alone in the gym or training room. Yet other times, he acted like a failed comedian, laughing and cracking jokes much of the time. Strange things had been going on in the airship, they seemed not unlike very well performed pranks. Jane had a suspicion as to who was responsible. In addition, his choice of Pokemon and battle tactics also differed wildly, consistency almost going out the window at times. It seemed almost as if multiple people inhabited the boy's psyche. Jane decided to dwell on such things later. It was almost time for Lester to return from a mission to steal Pokemon fossils from the Oreburgh Laboratory, which Byron occasionally watched over. A year ago, Jane's organization had developed another piece of technology, a wrist mounted cannon that could freeze a Pokemon in stone. The Pokemon could only be brought out of that state through special capsules designed to contain them. It was a good way to counter any resistance from Pokemon to be captured for clients. Lester had gotten the hang of it well, and had one strapped to his own wrist. Jane was broken out of her thoughts when the door opened and the 12 year old Lester strode in. Speak of the devil. A sharp, unnerving glare was etched on Lester's face. Jane decided to ignore it.

"Well? Did you or did you not accomplish the mission?"

Lester's sharp glare didn't disappear from his face. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and took out a small burlap bag, which he tossed onto the table. The impact caused the bag to open, spilling the contents across the table's surface. Several Coal Badges tinkled across the table, some hitting the floor, and a large bundle of notes fell out the bag, landing in front of Jane.

Jane quickly reached for the money, counting it with her fingers, while Lester continued to glare at her, not uttering a word since he entered the room. The money was the exact amount promised by the client. Seeing no reason to stay in the room any longer, Lester walked out, taking his leave.

That display of rude, defiant behavior surprised Jane. Something was definitely up with her apprentice. It seemed that she needed a second opinion on his behavior. A professional second opinion.

* * *

Author's Notes: This chapter took quite a while to write, so I apologise for any delay. It is in this chapter that Lester's crazy personality emerges for the first time. I don't know about you, but it really sucks if you use a toilet and find that there is no more toilet paper on the roll. If anyone is wondering about the poster in the restroom, I have another purpose for it, besides using it to activate Lester's crazy personality. It would soon play an important role in Lester's life. Lester's first mission was quite thrilling to write if you ask me. The breeding house in this chapter is the same as the one where Ash obtained his Donphan when it was still a Phanpy egg. Hope the scene with the destruction of the eggs wasn't too cruel or gory. And yes, the end of this chapter is set around the time that Byron is still Gym Leader of the Oreburgh Gym. Many thanks to Johan07 for beta-reading this chapter and suggesting the name "Jane" for J's mother. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


	4. A Psychologist's Opinion

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1

_Italics: Thoughts_

* * *

"A multiple personality is in a certain sense normal." – George H. Mead

_

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_

_A month later, Lilycove City, Hoenn Region._

"I trust that you are satisfied with your 'order', Dr. Bannon?"

A plump man dressed in a white lab coat, roughly in his mid-fifties, looked up from his work to stare at the silver haired woman eying him on the other side of his desk. He had a full head of head, though it was gray, with some white strands. A beard and moustache accented his face.

"Yes indeed. The Alakazam you delivered to me fulfilled all my expectations, and even surpassed some of them. I daresay this isn't the last time we will be doing business."

The man's response prompted Jane's curiosity.

"That's good to hear. The best clients for me are repeat ones. But tell me, you're a reputable psychologist, why potentially ruin your reputation by dealing with people like us?" Dr. Bannon chuckled.

"Because every person I meet conceals an opportunity to tap into the human mind. Now, I could go to the nearest jail and perform all sorts of experiments, but I prefer studying people in their 'natural habitat', wouldn't you say? Besides, much of my acclaimed published findings have been derived from studying criminals, such as yourself." Jane flinched slightly at Dr. Bannon's comments.

"What if you get caught? For all I know, you could be waiting to report me to the police."

"I'm not one to rat, my dear. In fact, it would be bad for the business. Societies, like our relationships, are all built on trust. You trust me not to report you to the authorities, and I trust you to do the same. If I break that trust, and you get arrested, I can't count on you to keep it either, and my business will fall. It's a pretty simple concept, if you ask me."

"But why mingle with criminals in the first place?"

"Because my field of study warrants that I look at every class of human there is, and if your suspicions are correct about the boy, he may provide me with quite the case study, one which I might not have been able to examine had I not chosen to associate with you. Now as per the terms of payment, I trust that you brought the footage?"

Jane nodded, and produced several videotapes. Recorded on them was footage of Lester secretly filmed by security cameras and henchmen over the past month. If she was to get to the bottom of his erratic behavior, what better way to start than by filming his activities while he was unaware of it? Of course, she couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that he might have deduced what she was up to, evidenced by Lester repeatedly confiding in his Pokemon that he felt as if he was being watched. If he had discovered what she was up to, for whatever reason, he chose not to blow her cover. The psychologist in front of her whistled.

"In the field of psychology, such actions would be considered unethical, since the boy is supposedly unaware that he is being filmed. But I doubt you give a damn about ethics, you just want me to give an evaluation on the boy's mental state as payment for the Alakazam, isn't that right?" Jane sighed. Dr. Bannon had a knack for asking questions to which the answers were obvious.

"So when can I get the results?"

"In about a week, give or take a day. Oh, and you should bring the boy as well, I might want a battle with him."

"Why?"

"Because in all honesty, I consider Pokemon battles to be one of the best displays of decision making in this world of ours, and that they have been studied many times over to discern a given Trainer's battling style. The choices we make in deciding which moves our Pokemon should use and how our Pokemon should act on the battlefield is a big factor in looking at what kind of person the Trainer is. Personality plays a big role in this as well. A person who mistreats his Pokemon might be antisocial, sadistic, have an abusive past, the list goes on. Either way, his interactions with his Pokemon is a good indicator of how he treats the people around him, as studies have shown; such interactions are very similar to each other. Needless to say, just like you, I have my suspicions as to the boy's condition, but I shall reserve my judgment until after I have viewed the footage." J nodded.

"I'll bring Lester here next week. In the meantime…"

"Yeah, I know. The footage is not to fall into anyone else's hands. You're not the only person I do business with, you know. Quite a few crime bosses have asked me to profile their employees as well, sometimes to see if said employees should be kept on the roster should a problem be discovered. You need not worry about me losing the videos, like I said, I have done this before." the psychologist waved his hand dismissively. Jane decided to take her leave.

"Very well, I'll be back in a week, as per the agreement." the silver haired woman got up from her seat, turned around, and strode out the door, leaving Dr. Bannon alone with his thoughts.

"_This should prove to be very interesting. Soon Lester, I will discover what ails you. Who knows, I might be able to write a paper on your condition, if your mistress' hunch is correct. Imagine the praise and acclaim I may gain. An award might be in my future. You must be very important to Jane is she would forgo monetary payment for a capture just to find out what is up with your mind."_ Dr. Bannon looked down at his desk, and was brought out of his thoughts when he saw the copious amount of video footage to sift through. Sighing, he picked up the tape labeled with the earliest date and pushed it into his VCR.

_A week later._

"Well, I suppose you have an answer for me? You have some nerve, calling me all the way here to your office when it's past closing time." Dr. Bannon sighed at Jane's impatient attitude.

"I had to, it was the only way I could manage your appointment without drawing the suspicion of my receptionist. Obviously, I can't have both you and Lester here for an extended period of time while my business is open, it would draw too much attention and you might be recognized. Before I continue, where is Lester? I thought I told you to bring him here today." Jane simply shrugged.

"He's in the waiting room, playing with his Togetic. He babies that thing too much." the psychologist chuckled.

"Yes, I observed your apprentice do that quite often on the videos. But then again, Togetic do require lots of attention on the part of the trainer. Seems like the devoted sort as well, I saw him in one of the videos staying up all night to train it when it was a Togepi because the Pokemon asked him to. Evolved into Togetic because of it too, talk about determination on the part of the Pokemon. However, he was extremely lethargic and cranky the next morning. He also seems to have a well trained balanced team, since all of his Pokemon, except Togetic, are fully evolved. If anything, Togepi evolve when they are happy with their Trainers, so it also shows what sort of bond Lester has with his Pokemon. By the way, did you still keep up those security cameras you installed so you could monitor the boy?"

"No. Do you have any idea how expensive they are to maintain? I just simply had them around so you could get your Lester footage." Dr. Bannon chuckled.

"I find it odd that you think cameras are stressing your budget. You fellow crime bosses don't seem to have that problem. Am I to assume that you are having monetary issues?" Jane scowled.

"I believe we are getting a little off-topic here. Now, I want what I came here for. What is the problem, if any, with my apprentice?"

"Well, I don't know how exactly to word this, so I'll just go ahead and say it. The closest thing I can pinpoint it to is dissosiative identity disorder, also known as DID, but yet not quite."

"What do you mean 'not quite'? Does he or does he not have DID?"

"I was getting to that. I'm sure you know that DID is more commonly known as a split or multiple personality condition. While Lester does indeed conform in some ways to the definition of the disorder, his condition is unlike any other example I have seen in all my years of practice."

"Go on."

"Well for starters, a common symptom of the disorder is forgetfulness on the part of the person, at a level which goes beyond the norm. Such a person may forget important details, such as his name, address, family members, etc. This is typically attributed to an afflicted person's current personality having no knowledge of what the previous one experienced. As such, this usually comes about when there is a shift in personality. The memories experienced by Personality A would not be known to Personality B, and so on. Therefore, asking those personalities about those memories experienced by Personality A would be pointless. The only way to hear those memories again is to ask Personality A when it resurfaces." the psychologist took a sip of water and continued.

"But with Lester, we don't have that. The boy's current self actually remembers what his preceding personality did. It doesn't matter which personality is in charge at the moment, the boy can recall what he has done before. Therefore, it wouldn't be a far stretch to say that he possesses a coherent memory of his past. Case in point, his personalities sometimes finish each other's sentences, albeit with an obvious change in tone. I have never seen that before. Usually, a personality change would cause a cessation of all activities performed by the previous personality." Jane nodded, and decided to raise her point.

"That's good to hear. At least I don't have a forgetful apprentice on my hands. Is there anything else about Lester that doesn't conform to the 'definition' of DID?" Dr. Bannon looked like he was in deep thought for a moment, before continuing.

"Yes. The boy does not display any distortion of subjective time, has no apparent signs of depression, no phobias that some people who have the disorder do, no panic attacks, and he doesn't seem to have any hallucinations of personalities not currently in charge. He is also very much self-aware, unlike many with the disorder, and doesn't suffer from any headaches. In effect, many of the symptoms to be expected of people with the disorder simply don't exist with Lester."

"I see then. Is there anything else that adheres to your 'definition'?"

"For one, occasionally he is quick to anger without the slightest apparent provocation. But then again, that is the very nature of one of his personalities, so I'll get into that later. He also possess multiple sets of ideals that are vastly different from one another, though that is true of almost anyone with the disorder, given the trait mixing that allow for personality to exist in the first place. The recorded footage has also captured moments of him confiding to his Pokemon, memories and flashbacks of the orphanage and the breeding house. Such flashbacks come suddenly, and are typically of the trauma that causes the disorder to begin with. Though for Lester, the occurrence of flashbacks is nothing hindering to him. It seems to be extremely easy for him to shrug them off when he gets them. Quite an accomplishment in itself, I've seen even mentally sound people freeze up when they remember something they don't want to."

"Is that about it for his general overview?"

"Yes. Now I'll get down to the details on his individual personalities."

"Please do."

"Let's start with the personality I saw the most often. I dub it his 'calm personality'. It's the one that you've had the most experience with, am I right?"

"Yes."

"It's just as I thought. I think the reason this one emerges with such frequency is because it represents his 'true self', how he would have been if he did not receive that nasty bump on the head four years ago. The other personalities seem to reflect any subdued traits; brought suddenly out into the open, hence the reason we don't see them as often. If your men didn't inflict that bump, you wouldn't be here chatting to me."

"Do not criticize me, Bannon, I don't believe I let you off monetary payment just to hear that."

"Fair enough. This personality, as its name describes, is calm, collected, polite, logical, and possess deep rational thought. He is also perceptive to a point, able to detect even the slightest thing which may be amiss. He seems to be quite well-read; I had to fast forward hours of footage of him reading. He doesn't seem to have much of a preference for reading material; he just picks up anything with words. Because of that, he is actually quite intelligent, though I think it's because he is just motivated to do so." Dr. Bannon took another sip of water before continuing.

"In a group, he would probably make a useful voice of reason, diffusing conflicts pretty quickly, I must admit. It would appear that he can read the people around him quite well; the footage had several instances of him telling his Pokemon about your henchmen's quirks and attributes. He also appears to be a bit of a perfectionist, correcting the mistakes of others, even the extremely trivial ones. I see that he had earned himself the ire of some for doing that. One really defining trait is probably his ability to plan and strategize, composing Pokemon battle strategies that use the environment quite well, making him a tactician as well. He does devise schemes for you on occasion, doesn't he? Overall, this personality is quite mature in the way he handles things, probably because he had to grow up quickly at the orphanage. In fact, if the circumstances were any different, I daresay that he may become an accomplished psychologist or military tactician…"

"I do not care about the boy's potential career prospects! All that's important is the fact that he belongs with me now, and it will stay that way for the rest of his life. Is that clear?" Jane snapped. Dr. Bannon sighed.

"Oh very well, moving on, we come to what I like to call his 'angry personality', for the very reason that he perpetually seems to be in a foul mood here. He is rude, antisocial, violent, and tends to use lots of profanity. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time he swore, I could retire right about now." Jane rolled her eyes.

"Always about the money for you, isn't it?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that. You seem to be in your 'business' just so you could make a quick buck. Anyway, I've noticed that he keeps to himself when he is angry, and spends his time in the gym. He also doesn't seem to be as affected by the shock collar's miniature shocks while training, so I'm guessing he developed a pain tolerance toward it. You might want to be wary of that. Strength wise, he has good physical fitness and is an average fighter. I've seen him practice only one martial art though, and that is aikido. If memory serves, that is one of the most violent martial arts in the world, fits that personality as well, and he is proficient at it. He has also started to branch out into other martial arts as well, so that would be a plus if he gets the hang of them. He has a knack for disobeying orders if he thinks he can get away with it, shows of a slight arrogance streak as well because of that."

Jane flinched slightly. Arrogance was a trait she detested in the people she employed. If anything, it tended to cloud their judgment and leads to their downfall. Dr. Bannon continued, not noticing the look on the woman's face.

"Because of that, it makes him quite highly competitive. He also accepts just about any challenge from opponents, to wrestle physically or have a Pokemon battle. Good way to hone one's strengths, though he seems to want to prove himself in some way by accepting challenges. The question is; what does he wants to show by doing all this? I would say that this personality is born from all the hatred he bares towards you, especially you violently kidnapping him and forcing him to become your apprentice. And he sure shouts a lot, particularly when he is having an outburst. I think I had to clean out my ears every time he did that."

"Is that all there is about my apprentice?"

"No, there is still one last personality I've yet to talk about. Lester's third and final distinct personality is his 'crazy personality'. How do I put this? He's a psychopath. Apparently, he spends much of his time cracking jokes and laughing for minutes on end. I fast forwarded a video of him doing nothing but laughing, and it spanned 90 minutes. I'm surprised he didn't get a heart attack from laughing so loudly and for so long. His sense of humor is extremely low, so he laughs hard at anything even remotely funny, things that you or I would just scoff at. Almost all of his jokes are terrible; I don't think Arceus could devise any jokes worst than his, even if he tried. As you can tell, I got quite sick of watching all that footage of his laughter, I just hope that it doesn't stick in my head. I mean, he laughs like someone who should belong in a mental asylum, for crying out loud!"

Jane frowned. This session was not going well. Two of her apprentice's personalities were downright detrimental to her, and one of them gave the psychologist a hard time. However, the session was far from over. The psychologist continued.

"Also present is a knack for pranking others, yes you heard me right. He absolutely enjoys his pranks. I'd say he craves them the same way you and I crave our morning coffee. If you see anything weird or amiss on your airship, you can pretty much attribute it to him."

Jane seethed. So those unusual activities on her airship were pranks, and her apprentice's crazy personality was responsible. Memories began to flood her mind. The rotten meat in the air vents, the slippery margarine in her bathtub, the toilets clogged and flooding due to copious amounts of toilet paper, and the wine in bottles being replaced with soy sauce. It was all because of him. Jane was brought out of her thoughts when Dr. Bannon continued to talk.

"In a way, his ability to conduct such pranks demonstrates some intelligence in this personality. The same intelligence also allowed him to dodge and evade any attempts at prank retaliation carried out by your henchmen, so I guess that pissed them off. All in all, this personality is a clustering of every instance of childish glee in the boy, and as you have seen, tends to be extremely immature and childish. In a nutshell, Lester's psyche is composed of the calm strategist, the hotheaded fighter, and the childish psychopath. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be 'multifarious', or the state of something having many diverse sides." Jane decided to voice her opinion.

"I don't want an arrogant jackass or a failed comedian as an apprentice! Can something be done about this?"

"Well, there is treatment for this disorder, which involves attempting to reconnect all personalities into a single, functioning identity, but it is costly, takes time, and is not guaranteed to work. However, given the special circumstances in Lester's case, I would say that he is probably much easier to treat. In fact, I predict that treatment has a way higher chance of succeeding with him. But it still costs quite a bit, and it still would take a while. I'm guessing you don't want to stay around for that sort of thing, do you?"

"You're damn right I don't. I've wasted enough time and resources on the boy as it is."

"Hmm…Well anyhow, I still would like a battle with him. Just so I can definitively pin down any battling styles. I do know that his calm personality leans toward using his Blastoise, his angry personality leans toward using his Charizard, and his crazy personality leans toward using Venusaur. However, I'm sure a battle with him would be a great challenge, considering that his strategies may shift with personality."

"Alright then. I did tell the boy that he might be battling you, and he said that was fine with him" Dr. Bannon nodded in approval.

Due to Dr. Bannon's philosophy that battling brought out the finer aspects of one's personality, he had a battlefield constructed in a room adjoining the waiting room. Spotting Lester playing with his Togetic as his mistress described, the psychologist stepped forward and introduced himself. After a brief handshake, the psychologist took out an oval jewel and instructed Lester to wear it on his chest. The jewel turned blue the minute Lester put it on. Dr. Bannon turned to Jane.

"You see, that jewel functions quite like a mood ring, and it changes colors to indicate which of his personalities is currently dominant. When he is calm, as he usually is, the jewel is blue in color. It turns red when he is angry, and yellow when he goes crazy. Consider it my gift to your apprentice. I figured that we could all communicate better with him when we know what his current personality is, don't you." Jane merely nodded.

Dr. Bannon could tell that Lester was ready to battle. The psychologist debated with himself on which of Lester's personalities to battle first. After a minute, he made his choice.

"Hey Lester, why is six afraid of seven? Because 7-8-9."

That did the trick. The jewel on his chest turning yellow, the joke caused Lester to first snicker, and then burst out in full laughter. The boy was still laughing when they stepped into the battlefield room. Lester's Togetic flew off to the seats to watch, yet staying a safe distance away from Jane. The psychologist picked a Pokeball from his pocket.

"Now then, go Porygon-Z."

From Dr. Bannon's Pokeball, out popped a blue and red Pokemon with a vague hummingbird shape. Its head was floating slightly above the rest of its body, and it had yellow eyes that looked like dartboards. Porygon-Z floated and shook rapidly, its erratic behavior perking Lester's interest for a short time, causing him to cease his laughter slightly.

"Oooo…How and where did you get that funny-looking Pokemon? You must have used a Dubious Disc to evolve your Porygon2. HAHAHAHAHA! Aren't those illegal?" Dr. Bannon chucked.

"Your assumption is correct, lad, I did use a Dubious Disc. As for its legality, I could spend hours debating with you on that. But for now, let's just focus on the battle."

"Hee Hee Hee. Ok then, go Ninjask. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Lester's Ninjask faced his opponent and studied the glitched Pokemon carefully. Dr. Bannon smiled.

"You may have the first move, young man." Lester chuckled for a moment.

"Tee Hee Hee. Alright then, Ninjask, use X-Scissor. Ha!"

Ninjask swooped in, his forelegs crossed in an X shape. But before the attack could make contact, Dr. Bannon decided to issue an order.

"Porygon-Z, use Trick Room."

Porygon-Z's eyes glowed, and the walls of the room were immediately covered in green binary code. Ninjask's eyes widened slightly as it realized its movements were getting slower. Dr. Bannon decided to explain the mechanics of his Pokemon's move.

"You see, Trick Room slows down any fast Pokemon, while speeding up slower ones, like my Porygon-Z in this case. So I hope you don't plan on taking advantage of your Pokemon's Speed Boost ability. Now, Porygon-Z, use Signal Beam."

Being a bug type move, Signal Beam didn't injure Ninjask as it hit, but did succeed in stopping X-Scissor. Lester continued to laugh.

"Hee Hee. Wow. Good one. Now then, Ninjask, use Silver Wind. HAHAHAHAHA!"

Ninjask sent out a silvery gust of wind which hit Porygon-Z. Ninjask then glowed slightly, indicating that all its stats were raised, which occasionally happened when Silver Wind was used. Not deterred by that, Dr. Bannon issued another order.

"Porygon-Z, use Tri Attack."

Dr. Bannon's Pokemon complied; forming a triangle with its ends peaked with a red, yellow, and blue circle. The Pokemon shot the triangle at Ninjask, which kept spinning as it approached its target. Lester wasted no time.

"Dive straight into the middle of the triangle, Ninjask." Dr. Bannon was dumbfounded. Did Lester just order his Pokemon to head straight into the attack?

Ninjask loyally obeyed his Trainer, and flew straight towards the triangle. To everyone's amazement, except Lester's, Ninjask flew straight through the middle of the triangle, dodging the attack completely. Lester laughed at his Pokemon's successful maneuver.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I know! Now Ninjask, Slash!"

Ninjask swung his foreleg, and brought it across his opponent's midsection, causing it to back away slightly. Togetic cheered to see her trainer do so well. The binary code on the walls disappeared, signifying the end of Trick Room's effect. Now Ninjask's speed was boosted by Speed Boost, and his other stats still had the boost they received from Silver Wind. Dr. Bannon gritted his teeth. This chortling lunatic may actually know what he's doing.

"Porygon-Z, Discharge NOW!"

Porygon-Z released a flare of blue electricity from its beak, but the snickering Lester was ready.

"Heh. Ninjask, Loop the Loop. BWAHAHAHAHA!" Dr. Bannon was baffled.

"Loop the loop?"

True to form, Ninjask flew in loops alone the stream of electricity, constantly dodging it, and approaching Porygon-Z at the same time. Eventually, when he was close enough, Ninjask broke away from his opponent's attack, and flew behind it. Porygon-Z turned its head, and struck Ninjask with the Discharge attack, the super effective hit causing Ninjask to flinch slightly. Lester seemed far from dissuaded.

"Ninjask, Silver Wind. Ha!"

Ninjask used Silver Wind again, the close range striking Porygon-Z, before he increased the distance between himself and his opponent. The psychologist saw an opening.

"Porygon-Z, Signal Beam."

Porygon-Z fired off Signal Beam again, but this time, Ninjask was ready. On an order from Lester, Ninjask flew under the Signal Beam, and then over it, and under it again, the erratic flight movements allowing him to dodge the attack. By now, Lester's laughter had mostly subsided, and his jewel turned blue. Dr. Bannon took notice of this.

"_So now the boy's calm personality decided to show his face. This should be interesting."_ Lester's order broke Dr. Bannon out of his thoughts.

"Ninjask, use Dig."

Ninjask complied, shooting himself into the ground. Slightly alarmed, Dr. Bannon ordered his Pokemon to feel for its opponent's subterranean movements. It wasn't long before the ground under Porygon-Z began to buckle, giving away Ninjask's position and plan of attack. Dr. Bannon smirked.

"Dodge it."

Porygon-Z leapt out of the way, avoiding Ninjask's strike. Dr. Bannon wasted no time in capitalizing on this opportunity.

"Porygon-Z, Tri-Attack."

"Two can play at that game. Ninjask, dodge it."

Using the increase in speed from Speed Boost and Silver Wind, Ninjask ducked out of the way, causing the triangle shot by Porygon-Z to miss. Dr. Bannon decided to call out another attack.

"Porygon-Z, Discharge."

"Once again Ninjask, dodge it."

Ninjask avoided the blue flare of electricity, once again taking advantage of his speed. Dr. Bannon was starting to flinch, seeing the ease at which Lester's Pokemon was evading his Porygon-Z's attacks. This personality really did have a different battling style from the previous one.

"Porygon-Z, use Tri-Attack NOW!"

"Again with the triangle? Oh well, Ninjask, dodge it."

Ninjask evaded another triangle by Porygon-Z, and Dr. Bannon was really getting irritated.

"Porygon-Z, Trick Room!"

Binary code once again appeared on the walls, as Porygon-Z limited its opponent's speed with Trick Room. Lester simply shrugged.

"Right then. Ninjask, use…"

"Porygon-Z, Discharge NOW!"

Before Lester could finish his sentence, his opponent took advantage of Ninjask's reduced speed and ordered a move from his Pokemon. Porygon-Z fired another Discharge. But before it could hit, Lester reacted quickly.

"Ninjask, use Dig."

Ninjask dove underground again, avoiding its opponent's electric type attack, which now flew harmlessly overhead. Dr. Bannon narrowed his eyes. Even though he diminished Ninjask's primary method of dodging, the bug type Pokemon still found a way to ensure that Porygon-Z won't get an attack in. The ground under his Pokemon starting to crumble, Dr. Bannon ordered his Pokemon to dodge, which it did, now staring down Ninjask, who had just emerged from the hole in the ground he created.

"Porygon-Z, Discharge!"

"Dig again, Ninjask."

As Ninjask successfully dodged another attack from his opponent, Dr. Bannon evaluated his options. His opponent's Pokemon was now underground, and could certainly strike again. His own Pokemon was starting to get exhausted. Lester had really managed to turn the tables since he experienced that change in personality. The ground buckled again, with Dr. Bannon quickly ordering his Pokemon to dodge again. The binary code disappeared from the room's walls again, signifying that Trick Room had once again worn off, and Ninjask could garner the benefits that his ability granted him. Unfortunately, Porygon-Z had no such advantage. Dr. Bannon sighed. He hated doing this, but it seemed that he had no other option.

"Why do you keep dodging for anyway? Are you afraid? Why don't you attack already? Coward." Lester rolled his eyes. In the stands, Togetic frowned upon hearing Lester get talked down like that.

"I don't see why I should oblige you. As you can tell, I would gain no apparent benefit from breaking this status quo. My Pokemon isn't getting hurt, and yours isn't either. In fact, I don't believe either Pokemon took damage since my Ninjask used Dig for the first time. So why would I, a Trainer who loves his Pokemon, expose them to unnecessary harm when I can avoid it? The status quo is serving me well; my Pokemon is still standing strong and avoiding Porygon-Z's attacks, while your Pokemon is wasting its energy and getting exhausted. What's the point of deviating from it? You're a psychologist, I'm sure you should know that."

Dr. Bannon gritted his teeth. Lester's calm personality had a point, yet he couldn't keep this up. His Pokemon was tiring. There was still one more personality that didn't reveal himself in the battle, and Dr. Bannon had to bring it out. Forcing a change in Lester's techniques might be the only way he can win this.

"Porygon-Z, use Discharge on Lester!"

Porygon-Z hesitated, before firing its attack straight at the human. Ninjask reacted quickly, taking the super effective hit for his Trainer, and getting paralyzed in the process. Lester was momentarily stunned by this, the oval jewel on his chest now a bright red. Togetic gasped in shock, but quickly regained her composure when Ninjask stepped in to take the attack for their Trainer. She then glared at the psychologist for taking such an action.

"Thanks Ninjask. WHAT THE FUCKING HELL WAS THAT?! WHY DID YOU ATTACK ME OUT OF THE BLUE LIKE THAT, YOU BASTARD? EVEN YOUR POKEMON HAD MORE SENSE THAN THAT! CRAZY DUMBASS. IT SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE NO SENSE OF THE RULES AS WELL, CHEATER."

Lester's outburst set Dr. Bannon back slightly. Sure, he may have observed Lester's angry outbursts on tape, but hearing it in person was another thing altogether. It may have been unsavory on his part to attack Lester like that, but it was the only way he could think up off the top of his head to piss the boy off.

"Well, all you did was keep dodging, where's your strategy? Perhaps that surprise might jolt you into thinking." the psychologist tried to justify his actions.

"YOU WANT STRATEGY? HOW'S THIS FOR STRATEGY? NINJASK, USE AERIAL ACE."

Shaking off the paralysis, Ninjask was engulfed in a white light and swooped towards Porygon-Z. Dr. Bannon was taken aback by the sudden switch in his opponent's Pokemon from defense to offense.

"Uh…Dodge it, Porygon-Z."

Porygon-Z sidestepped Ninjask, dodging the attack, or at least attempting to. Lester smirked.

"False hope on your part, Doc. Aerial Ace cannot miss, or did you forget that?"

True to form, Ninjask swung around, and smacked Porygon-Z full in the back, causing it to turn and face its opponent. At such close range, Porygon-Z couldn't miss.

"Porygon-Z, use Tri-Attack."

"Ninjask, use Slash."

Porygon-Z charged another triangle and fired it at Ninjask. Ninjask was paused in his tracks, prevented from moving by the paralysis inflicted by Discharge earlier. The triangle struck Ninjask, slamming him into the wall. Lester narrowed his eyes.

"Like it? My Porygon-Z's ability is Adaptability, so any moves it uses that are the same type as it inflict more damage on an opponent. Tri-Attack is a normal type move just like it, so its power is boosted." the psychologist boasted. Lester rolled his eyes.

"Like I care. My Ninjask didn't take much damage since he spent the last few minutes dodging your slew of attacks, so I'm not worried."

"Ah, but the paralysis my Porygon-Z inflicted on your Ninjask reduced its speed somewhat. Your Pokemon won't be dodging as easily now. Plus it can't move occasionally because of that status ailment." Lester simply made a 'tch' sound. Dr. Bannon decided to continue.

"Porygon-Z, use Discharge."

"Ninjask, USE SLASH NOW!"

Though he was hit by another dose of electricity, Ninjask managed to move and retaliate this time, scoring a successful hit on the psychologist's Pokemon. Porygon-Z's movements became more sluggish, and it was evident that the Pokemon was tiring.

Dr. Bannon realized that he needed to end this quickly. But before he could order an attack, Lester beat him to it.

"Ninjask, Use Slash again."

Ninjask swung hard and hit Porygon-Z again, knocking it into the wall. Ninjask now had his opponent pinned with his foreleg. This was an opportunity Lester did not want to waste.

"Ninjask, use Slash again, followed by X-Scissor!"

Keeping his opponent pinned to the wall, Ninjask used his other foreleg to deliver the Slash attack. Backing away from his opponent, he then crossed his forelegs in an X shape, before swing them across Porygon-Z's midsection. With nowhere to go, Porygon-Z was a sitting duck for Ninjask's attacks.

"Good. Use Swords Dance, and then X-Scissor one more time Ninjask."

Ninjask waved his forelegs in a dance that raised his attack stat, and then tried to attack again, but was held back by his paralysis status. Dr. Bannon took the chance to strike.

"Porygon-Z, use Tri-Attack, and then Conversion 2."

The psychologist's Pokemon attacked, scoring a clean hit on Ninjask. Both Trainers could tell that Ninjask was getting fatigued. A red glow surrounded Porygon-Z. Conversion 2 was a move that changes the user's type to make it resistant to the move type it last took damage from. In this case, it turned Porygon-Z into a fire type Pokemon. Dr. Bannon smirked.

"I decided to use that as a precaution in case you decided to use X-Scissor or Silver Wind again, Lester. Now that you're in my sights, Porygon-Z, use Hyper Beam NOW!"

Lester's eyes widened as the psychologist's Pokemon charged an orange ball at the end of its beak. If the attack hit Ninjask, the Pokemon would almost certainly be knocked out. Ninjask was still paralyzed, but he had to take a gamble.

"Ninjask, use Dig!"

Ninjask may have been slowed by his paralysis, but he still bore the speed gain granted by Silver Wind. His ability Speed Boost also greatly augmented his speed, allowing him to quickly dive into the ground, while Hyper Beam passed by overhead, missing its intended target. Dr. Bannon's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE!" Lester smirked

"Well Doc, it looks like your 'precaution' will cause you dearly."

Porygon-Z, tired from using a powerful move such as Hyper Beam, was unable to react as the ground crumbled underneath it. Ninjask shot out of the newly-made hole, smashing into the immobilized Pokemon. Because Porygon-Z was now a fire type Pokemon through Conversion 2, the ground type Dig dealt super effective damage. Porygon-Z stumbled to keep its footing for a moment, before falling over with swirly eyes.

Lester breathed a sigh of relief as Dr. Bannon recalled his Pokemon. Ninjask flew over to Lester, whose rage was now abated, the jewel on Lester's chest becoming blue again. In the stands, Jane looked on uninterested while Togetic cheered and began flying in circles around the room, happy at her trainer's victory. Dr. Bannon walked over to his victorious opponent.

"I must thank you for giving me and my Pokemon quite the battle, Lester. You certainly gave me a run for my money. I hope you will forgive me for directing an attack toward you, but I had to do it to bring other one of your other selves." Lester's interest was piqued.

"What do you mean?"

Dr. Bannon went on to give Lester a shorter explanation of his condition, surprised at how well Lester was handling the news, especially given the knowledge that he was filmed, confirming the boy's suspicions when he told his Pokemon that he felt like he was being watched. When it came time to explain the jewel, the psychologist advised Lester to take it off when he battled, just so the opponent can't predict his strategies through current personality, as each one had his own distinct battling style. Before he sent Lester off to the waiting room so he could talk to J privately, Dr. Bannon produced an oval stone from his pocket that emitted a dazzling light.

"I have another present for you, apart from the personality detecting jewel. This is an Oval Stone, and it can evolve your Togetic into Togekiss. I think you deserve it, both for giving me a good battle and for the bond you shared with your Pokemon. Your Togepi must love you a lot to evolve into Togetic for you. Use this stone when you think the time is right."

Lester thanked the psychologist, and the two shook hands. Lester recalled his Ninjask and left the battlefield room, and headed for the waiting room, with Togetic following him. With Lester gone, Dr. Bannon turned his attention to Jane.

"Well, it seems that I was right on each personality having his own battling style. His crazy personality, which I faced first, seems to have no sense of strategy. For him, it's pretty much doing what it takes to not get hit, and surprise the opponent, evidenced by his Pokemon's very erratic movements. He also likes to distance himself from the opponent, favoring ranged attacks. In addition, he likes firing off many attacks in rapid succession. As such, his tactics are extremely unorthodox and occasionally improvised. I take it that he'll do anything, except cheating, to win. And that laughter is so distracting to the opponent. His calm personality seems to like ordering his Pokemon to dodge and evade with surprising frequency. It's a simple principle, tire out and annoy your opponent, who is trying in vain to hit you. When an opening appears, he likes to capitalize on it and strike quickly. Essentially, he uses that defensive dodging to play off the opponent's frustration, and toy it into making wrong decisions. Finally, his angry personality…" Dr. Bannon was cut off by Jane, who had some choice words to say to her client.

"Do NOT do that again. What if your Pokemon's Discharge attack hit? I don't want a crispy fried apprentice, you know." Dr. Bannon sighed.

"I realize that, but it was the only way to bring out that personality so I could battle him. Anyways, his angry personality is brutal. He focuses on getting close to the opponent and striking hard and fast. His Pokemon may get injured, but they just grin and bear it. Close quarter combat prevents your opponent from getting away or giving it time to recoup, and that's what Lester's angry personality loves. He also likes to trap the opponent or otherwise make sure it is incapable of retaliating so he can attack without hesitation. If you ask me, it might become overkill very quickly if he doesn't keep himself in check. Overall, that battle was intense for me, not just because it felt like battling three people, but also because Lester managed to switch tactics so quickly. He has potential to ruin the opponent's strategy if he keeps this up."

"Good to hear this." Jane replied, but Dr. Bannon wasn't finished.

"There's just one more thing to discuss. As I said before, Lester's case of DID is quite different, so I was wondering if I could publish a case study on him." Jane seemed to seize up at the request, and Dr. Bannon sighed upon noticing this.

"Oh relax. No names will be mentioned. Publicity rights and all that crap, you know. It's all about the trust I told you about last week. You can rest assured that I will keep my word on that." Jane nodded.

"Very well, I will hold you to that. Just remember the consequences to you should you break that trust. It was nice doing business with you Dr. Bannon."

"Likewise."

Jane walked off to find her apprentice in the waiting room so they could leave the premises, leaving Dr. Bannon with his thoughts.

"_Lester. I have a feeling that you might just be the most interesting person I have profiled, in all my years of practice. As per my promise to your mistress, I would not tell the police about this. However, it is my sincerest hope that you might one day escape her clutches. If and when that day comes, I hope that I will have the honor of curing you."_

After that long day, the psychologist left to take a well-deserved rest at home.

Within the next two years, Lester continued his tutelage under Jane. Like any other person, he had his successes and failures in missions. His reputation grew only slightly, as the public knew him only as "Jane's apprentice" and nothing more. Jane and Lester remained pretty much out of the media spotlight, as they were more focused on Team Rocket than some petty Pokemon hunters. When Lester was 13 years old, and after asking his Pokemon at least ten times if she was sure about it, he made the decision to evolve his Togetic into Togekiss, remembering the words passed to him from the psychologist who gave him the stone. The psychologist's other gift to him greatly eliminated the communication problems he had with others, who didn't know which personality was currently dominant. Thanks to that jewel, people knew when to avoid him and when to talk to him. Despite her apprentice's disorder, Jane was assured that Lester would be a competent and obedient person in her employ. Little did she know, all that was about to change shortly after Lester's 14th birthday.

* * *

Author's notes: That was a long chapter to write. Essentially, it's a tell-all describing Lester's condition. The psychologist here is mostly there so there would be a "professional" voice to explain things. Lester's disorder is one way I made him unique and distinct, since it is a milder form of DID. I do actually practice aikido myself, and it is quite brutal. I sometimes have reservations about using it. My first written proper Pokemon battle is in this chapter. It took quite a while to write probably because there are quite a few things to juggle, remember, and keep track of, as evidenced by my references to earlier parts of the battle in the later parts. The battle is based off the ones in the anime, where 100% accuracy moves can apparently be dodged. I decided to give the psychologist a Porygon-Z because it represents a corrupt yet technical view people like him tend to take. Personally, I think Porygon and its evolved forms need more anime appearances. That Pokemon suffered quite the stigma because of the episode over 10 years ago that caused many children in Japan to get seizures. Hopefully, Porygon and its evolutions will one day get another proper appearance in the anime. Yes, there are actually people like Dr. Bannon who do business with criminals, yet still make a honest living. In that sense, he's not actually evil, he just wants to do his job and accomplish something, and doing business with Jane is the only way he can examine Lester. I would also like to exten my thank to Johan07 for being my beta-reader. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


	5. The Fallen Apprentice

Disclamers: See Chapter 1

* * *

"DISOBEDIENCE, n. The silver lining to the cloud of servitude." – Ambrose Bierce

* * *

Lester, now 14 years old, hastily dashed into his room and quickly closed the door. If one were to look at his face, he would immediately observe that Lester was biting his tongue hard, trying to prevent his mouth from making a single noise. If it was a dead giveaway as to which of Lester's personalities was currently dominant, the oval jewel mounted on his black jumpsuit's right chest was a vibrant electric yellow. Having a room close to the airship's fancy break room afforded Lester quite the advantage. Any minute now, he would hear the fallout from his latest attempt at entertainment. Entertainment for himself, that is.

**BOOM! POW! POP! fizzzz…..hissss…..**

"**ARRGH!"**

"**WHAT THE HELL!"**

"**WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"**

"The boy, he's responsible for this. I JUST KNOW IT! Running off like that when we got back on the airship. He was up to no good, and this is the proof."

It took Lester all of his willpower to keep himself from bursting into laughter on the spot and very obviously giving himself away. Of course, to understand what happened, we must go back a few hours in time, on the desert sands of Hoenn.

_2 hours ago, Route 111, Hoenn Region._

"Are you sure this is the place? Seems like you are trying to lead us straight into the sandstorm and lose us so you can escape. And you know the consequences if you try, so I won't recommend it."

"Why are you even on this mission anyway? We can handle this without you."

"I seriously doubt this is the right way. Why don't we just turn around? There's sand blowing in my pockets anyway."

Lester was beginning to get severely annoyed having to listen to the whiny attitude of the henchmen following him. Always accusing him of trying to of trying to escape them. Always doubting his skill as a competent Trainer. Always giving him back talk. Always suggesting that he was wrong. It was always about them, wasn't it? He was just the scapegoat they can dump on. Lester's jewel was flashing a dangerous red. It was a wonder he was not yelling at the top of his lungs. He gritted his teeth. If he threw a fit now, he would be conceding to the henchmen that they were right about him. But he couldn't just stand there and take all that verbal abuse.

"ENOUGH! That shiny Flygon IS HERE! I know what I'm doing, unlike you people." the henchmen took that as a challenge of their abilities and were not pleased.

"Are you sure about that? You simply sent out your Charizard to scout the area. How do we know it isn't trying to lead us off course? It's your Pokemon and I'm sure it is in league with you." a henchman retorted. Lester's left eye twitched. Now they touched a nerve, insulting his Pokemon. This only made him desire his bed so he can get rid of the migraine treating to split his skull in two.

"Well, at least I TRUST Charizard completely. I honestly cannot say the same for you lot." Before the henchmen could reply to that, a loud roar was heard a few feet ahead from their location. Lester's ears perked up, it was his Charizard. Beyond the sandstorm, he could make out faint bursts of fire erupting and disappearing. Lester broke out into a run, ignoring the sand now battering at his body. His henchmen quickly followed suit.

It took a few minutes to run through the sandstorm, but Lester reached his Charizard, now locked in combat with a shiny Flygon. Charizard, battered by the sandstorm, had scratches all over his body and was panting heavily, but Flygon wasn't faring any better either. Charizard turned his head and immediately perked up when he caught sight of Lester. Charizard turned back to face Flygon with a sneer on his face, as if telling his opponent to watch out, now that his Trainer was here. Flygon frowned, but regained its composure when it heard Lester order Charizard to use Heat Wave. Being a ground and dragon type Pokemon, the attack won't inflict much damage to Flygon, but it wasn't something to take lightly.

Flygon flew low, avoiding the attack completely. Lester smirked, and the jewel on his chest seemed to glow red a little more brightly than usual. This style of battling was in his blood.

"Charizard, pin Flygon to the rock face!"

Flygon's eyes widened in shock. Looking behind, Lester was right. There was a wall of rock right behind it, and Charizard was closing in fast. It seemed like there was no escape. Determined to fight on, Flygon unleashed a Hyper Beam at Charizard. The attack struck its target, who howled in pain.

Suddenly, Charizard's tail flame erupted and burned more intensely, even to the point of turning blue. Heat radiated off the Pokemon, so much so that Lester and the henchmen had to step back, for fear of getting second degree burns from the sheer heat alone. Charizard let out a fierce, intimidating roar, and for a second, Lester was afraid that it would give away their location. But he didn't have to fear. The sandstorm made it extremely difficult for anyone to reach them, let alone see them. Lester smirked, knowing what came over his Pokemon. Charizard had activated his ability, Blaze, which powered up fire type moves exponentially when the Pokemon's health was low. It was time to show the target what it was messing with. If memory served, the Flygon was still trapped. Lester looked forward to see that the Flygon had escaped by flying up. Lester sighed heavily. He was tired and weary, and so was his Pokemon.

"Take flight Charizard!"

Charizard nodded and flew off in pursuit of his Trainer's target. Catching sight of the shiny Flygon, Charizard shot a Flamethrower after the fleeing Pokemon, hitting it from behind and sending it plummeting to the ground. But Charizard won't let it fall so easily. With a swift motion forward, he flew in front of Flygon, who by now had regained control of its flight pattern and faced Charizard with a defiant glare. A green orb appeared in Charizard's hands and he hurled it at his target. The close proximity the two Pokemon had to each other ensured that Flygon couldn't dodge the Dragon Pulse in time. The orb struck Flygon in the chest causing it to scream in pain, and fall slightly, leaving Charizard just above it. Lester decided that the battle had gone on long enough.

"Charizard, use FLARE BLITZ!"

Charizard let out a roar and was engulfed in fire. The flying fire lizard dived at his target, slamming into it at full force. The two Pokemon shot to the ground, the fire covering Charizard and streaming behind making it seem not unlike a shooting star. Flygon weakly turned its head back and gasped in shock, seeing that they were about to collide into the rock face, but Charizard kept going.

CRASH!

The impact was immense. Charizard, now barely conscious, mustered the strength to leap off Flygon, glaring at the troublesome Pokemon. Flygon on the other hand was not as lucky, its body having taken most of the impact from colliding into the rock face. Flare Blitz may not have been a very effective move to use against it, but the power added to it from Blaze and the damage Flygon sustained from hitting a wall of solid rock added up. Lester walked up to the unconscious shiny Flygon and raised his arm, aiming his wrist cannon at the Pokemon. For good measure, he decided to freeze the Pokemon in stone. The henchmen rushed to confine the petrified Pokemon in a capsule, while Lester tended to his Charizard's injuries with Potions, stroking his neck and whispering words of encouragement to him, before recalling him to his Pokeball. Lester walked past his henchmen back to the mini airship they took to the desert. They quickly followed with the shiny Flygon in a capsule.

Back on the mini airship, the henchmen were celebrating "their" victory while Lester seethed to himself. His Charizard had done the hard work to capture the shiny Flygon, and what had the henchmen done? Merely carry it back with them. They were probably on the mission to make sure that he didn't escape. Their arrogance needed to be dealt with. Suddenly, Lester's jewel went from red to yellow, though no one noticed. A plan to get even formed in his mind, as he thought about the many cans and bottles of soda and beer laid out in the airship's break room, in preparation for a successful mission. The henchmen were also avid party animals. Lester chuckled to himself as he visualized the successful outcome of his prank.

_5 minutes ago, airship's break room._

As soon as the mini airship docked with the main one, Lester wasted no time, dashing out and heading straight for the break room. True to his predictions, there was an array of bottles and cans of beer and soda on the table in the middle of the room. Trying not to let laughter overwhelm him, Lester ran up to them and gave each one a very vigorous shake, running out the break room in time as the first henchmen entered. It was very evident to any casual observer that the henchmen were in for a very sticky mess when they opened those cans and bottles of carbonated beverages.

_The present moment in time, Lester's room._

As soon as the surge of glee from his latest prank died down, Lester's jewel changed back to the red it bore during the mission. Lester fumed as he remembered how Jane and the henchmen had treated him like dirt and a failure from his recent string of failed missions. Removing his goggles and tossing them on his bed, he stomped into his bathroom and turned on the cold water, sticking his face under the tap and letting it wash away his immense stress. Perhaps a little television will relieve him of his anger.

Switching on the TV, Lester scrolled past three channels of Pokemon contests. While he sometimes found useful tactics by watching them, he was currently not in the right mood or personality to do so. Lester saw Rhonda talk away and knew he was watching Sinnoh Now. He was generally uninterested in the program and only watched it when Rhonda was reporting outside the studio, as his crazy side enjoyed seeing that woman repeatedly get hit on the head by a boom microphone, courtesy of her operator Jack. He didn't know about others, but he found it extremely funny to see her screw up her report on live national television. Since today was not one of those days, Lester scrolled to the next channel, also a news channel like the last one.

This one was from Kanto however. What caught Lester's attention was the coverage of an ongoing strike. Footage of a fire flashed across the screen. The reporter spoke.

"…clear that everything is at a stalemate. As we enter the 5th day of the engineer's strike here in Saffron City, city officials are concerned of the escalating violence here. Police have failed to make any arrests and it is feared that innocent people will be caught in the crossfire. The usage of Molotov cocktails by members of the strike is an indication that they are unwilling to compromise. Easily and cheaply constructed from a glass bottle, a rag, and petrol, a Molotov cocktail proves to be one bomb that is capable of causing severe damage to anything it impacts. We will continue to keep you updated on the current situation."

By now, Lester's jewel had switched to its usual blue, and he had a notepad, furiously scribbling notes, especially on the Molotov cocktails. This information could really come in handy, as a plan had begun to form in his head. Lester hoped that no one else was watching the same channel as him. Fortunately for Lester, the henchmen were still busy in the break room while Jane was in her office planning the next few missions. The news program had ended, and Lester changed to another channel. That documentary on Sinnoh legendary Pokemon he wanted to watch was starting and waiting for a rerun might cause him to miss out on this opportunity to bring his plan to fruition.

_That night._

Lester quietly snuck out of his room, being careful not to wake anyone. The guards were usually inattentive, and it was easy to sneak past them. Lester knew that a single mishap would cost him everything, so he kept his noise level at a minimum. Reaching the darkened break room, Lester felt his way around and found the garbage bin. Looking inside, Lester found what he was searching for. Several empty glass beer bottles lay inside the plastic bag lining the bin. Lester managed to find twelve bottles in all, along with the caps. Talk about heavy drinking at the party earlier. That would suffice for his plan. He tied up the bin's plastic bag with the bottles inside and took them to the restroom.

_At the restroom._

For good measure, upon entering the restroom, Lester locked the door before pulling out the bottles and washing them out with hot water to sterilize them, also removing the labels in the process. Though he couldn't read it in the dark, Lester remembered the sign in the restroom he first saw six years ago; warning henchmen that whoever made a mess in the restroom would have to service the faction's vans by himself for a week. Lester chuckled; remembering his first reaction to that sign, but now wasn't the time to dwell on that. A thought came to his mind. Rick had to service the vans this week, as punishment for defying the sign. Lester smirked. If he knew Rick like he thought he did, carrying out his plan would be faster and easier than he thought.

_The airship's garage._

Lester carried his bag of empty beer bottles to the airship's garage, where the vans were stored and serviced when not in use. To prevent unauthorized entry, the door could only be opened from the outside by a code known only to Jane. Anyone who had to service the vans by themselves were given strict orders to close the doors after they were done. Rick, being his typical forgetful self, had left the garage door open after finishing his duties for the day 30 minutes ago. The bumbling fool was probably asleep by now. Lester walked into the garage and closed the door. No sense in having someone walk in on him at this point.

With the garage secured, Lester probed around and came across what he was looking for, a small petrol container fill of fuel. Lester removed the bottles from the bag and began to fill them with petrol, being careful not to spill any of it on the floor of the garage. Once all twelve bottles were filled, Lester searched around the room and found rags, many of them oily from being used to wipe machine parts. He placed a rag in eleven of the bottles, and recapped them. When he reached the final bottle, Lester took out the paper with his plans on it, scrunched it up, and placed it in the last bottle, so they won't be discovered should his plans fail.

Smirking to himself, Lester carefully placed the bottles inside the bag, being careful not to break them or have their contents spill. Tomorrow was crunch time. Lester had a mission but unbeknownst to everyone else, he had no intention of carrying it out this time. Lester walked out the garage, closing the door behind him. Knowing Rick's forgetfulness, he'll just think the door was closed all along. Lester returned to his room to catch up on some sleep, he needed all his wits about him if his plan was to succeed tomorrow.

_The next day._

Lester had woken up early this morning, and wasted no time in grabbing the bag with his petrol filled bottles after a quick breakfast. He rushed to the garage, to find Rick already there, slaving away at the vans and muttering profanities under his voice. The henchman took notice of Lester's presence and asked why he was there. The apprentice simply replied that he was prepping his Charizard for the flight. Rick shrugged and returned to his work, turning his back to Lester, never once noticing the bag he was carrying.

Lester sent out his Charizard and quickly explained his plan to his Pokemon. Charizard smirked in excitement, realizing what his Trainer and his fellow teammates had to gain if the plan actually succeeded. He allowed Lester to tie eight of the bottles to the front of his body, while Lester tied the remaining four to his waist. Charizard's back was turned when the henchmen came into the garage.

The mission involved capturing a Tyranitar, and was to take place at Mt. Silver in Johto. Due to the lack of locations to land a flying craft at the mountain itself, the mini airship would land on the outskirts of the mountain while vans traverse the rest of the distance. Lester watched as the henchmen loaded three vans onto the mini airship before boarding it themselves. He would be flying ahead on Charizard. Everything was secured down before the mini airship separated from the large one. Lester's Charizard flew out the hole and soon overtook the mini airship. So far, no one had noticed the bottles Lester had strapped to himself and Charizard, being too caught up in preparations. Lester smirked. Everything was currently going according to plan.

_30 minutes later, Mt. Silver, Johto Region._

Lester looked down from his vantage point on the back of his Charizard and noted the plains surrounding the mountain. The mini airship following him would land soon, and the vans with the henchmen will travel the rest of the way the mountain, with Lester still leading on his Pokemon. However, if Lester succeeded here, the henchmen won't be getting anywhere close to their destination.

Lester patiently waited until the three vans exited the airship. In the meantime, he took one of the bottles strapped to his waist, flicked off the cap, and lit the rag wick with his Charizard's tail flame. By the time he was done, the vans had already exited the mini airship and were advancing a few feet. Lester told his Charizard to fly lower. Turning around, he hurled the Molotov cocktail to the ground in front of the path of the van in the middle.

The effect was spontaneous. The bottle shattered, spilling petrol across the grass. The burning wick hit the puddle of fuel and ignited it, sending a pillar of fire rising in front of the van. It turned and screeched to a halt, the other two vans following suit. A group of angry henchmen exited the vans.

"What do you think you're doing!" a henchman screamed at Lester.

Lester smirked, the oval jewel on his chest now a bright red. His Charizard turned around to face the henchmen and landed on the ground, revealing the fact that it had more petrol filled bottles strapped to its front.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU AND YOUR SURPRESSIVE WAYS! YOU BASTARDS THINK YOU CAN JUST HOLD ME LIKE A CAGED POKEMON? I NEVER WANTED A PART IN ALL THIS! WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE ALL THIS ABUSE? HUH?! Well, when I'm done with you people, I'm going to the nearest police station and turning myself in. At least that's better than being here. But just to make sure you don't escape."

Lester grabbed two more bottles from his waist, and lit them with his Charizard's flame. Smirking, he hurled them at the still rotating front engines. The two Molotov cocktails hit their marks and shattered, spilling burning petrol all over the inner workings of the engines. The close proximity of the engines to their fuel source caused them to explode violently, sending shrapnel flying in various directions. Smoke billowed out the destroyed engines, while some of the henchmen moaned in pain from being struck by shrapnel. One of the henchmen decided to act quickly, pulling out the remote to activate Lester's shock collar.

"Alright brat, now you've done it. Take th…Arrgh!"

Before he could press the button, Lester rushed over to him and kicked the remote out of his hand. The remote landed on the grass a few feet away. Picking it up, Lester gave the henchman a victorious smirk, before turning it off and tossing it to his Charizard's feet. His Pokemon responded in turn by stomping on the remote, shattering it to many pieces. Lester turned to Charizard, who handed him two more bottles, already lit. He was then picked up by his Pokemon, who took off into the air. Lester hurled the bottles at the mini airship's rear engines, causing them to explode as well and disabling all of the vehicle's engines. Four columns of smoke could be seen pouring out of massive holes on the sides of the vehicle. Charizard landed on the ground.

Lester smirked at his handiwork and took notice of the vans, their front doors still open. He took a bottle strapped to Charizard, lit it and hurled it into a van. The interior of the van exploded, the burning petrol fuel having ignited the fuel filled engines, which lay so close to the driver's controls. Lester proceeded to grab two more bottles from his Pokemon. By this time, the henchmen had enough of his interference. They pulled out their Pokeballs. Before they could release their Pokemon, Lester had lit one of the Molotov cocktails he was holding and tossed it at a nearby rock sticking up on the field. The bottle shattered upon impact with the rock, burning petrol flying through the air. Some of it landed in front of the henchmen, causing them to back away. Some landed on their clothes, spreading panic as the henchmen tried to put out the small fires.

Lester lit the other Molotov cocktail he was holding and tossed it into the second van's interior. Just like the one before it, this van exploded as well. Fire and smoke billowed out, its chassis blacked. Lester surveyed his situation. He had one bottle left strapped to his waist while his Charizard had three. The henchmen were in disarray. Finishing this would be easy.

Meanwhile a henchman limbered out of Lester's field of vision, hiding behind the disabled mini airship, and made contact with Jane through his earpiece, explaining the situation. Jane was furious that Lester had managed to acquire and use Molotov cocktails against them. When she heard about Lester destroying the remote, she went over the top. The henchman was trembling by now.

"S-Should I-I use it n-now, sir?" he asked. The response was fast.

"Just DO IT! I don't care what you have to do. Just bring the boy back to me alive so I can deal with him."

"As you wish, sir." replied the henchman, cutting the connection.

_Meanwhile._

While the henchman was calling his employer, Lester took his ninth bottle from Charizard. Before he could light the wick, some of the henchmen had called out several Skarmory and Golem. Lester frowned, before sending out his Venusaur and Togekiss.

"Venusaur, use Sunny Day. Togekiss, use Thunder Wave on the Skarmory. Charizard, you use Heat Wave on the Skarmory as well!"

Venusaur fired a white beam into the sky from the flower on its back, intensifying the sun. Waves of electricity from Togekiss struck some of the Skarmory, paralyzing them, and causing them to drop from the sky. His fire type moves augmented by Venusaur's Sunny Day, Charizard used Heat Wave, striking many of the Skarmory, seriously injuring them. Lester turned to see several Golem using Rollout, heading straight for him. He turned to his Venusaur, who calmly looked at that oncoming threat without any sign of alarm.

"Venusaur, use Earthquake NOW!"

The ground rumbled, the resulting shockwaves upsetting the trajectory of the rolling Golem, and dealing large amounts of damage. Charizard and Togekiss, as well as the henchmen's Skarmory remained unaffected by the attack, being part flying type. Lester took advantage of this distraction to further disorient the Golem. He whistled for Charizard, who lighted the bottle already in his Trainer's hand. Lester threw the Molotov cocktail in the middle of the field when the Golem were rolling, some of them out of control. Fire shot out of the fuel spilled by the shattered bottle, causing some of the Golem to roll in the opposite direction to escape the inferno. They were now sitting ducks for Lester's Pokemon. Lester reached for another Pokeball and summoned out his Blastoise.

"Blastoise, use Ice Beam on the Golem."

Beams of ice shot from Blastoise's mouth, freezing some of the Golem solid while knocking out a few others. Lester heard cawing and turned his head to see the Skarmory were beginning to get up. He couldn't have them up and around. Raising his arm, he shot at them with his wrist cannon, freezing a few of them into stone. The henchmen were panicking. The situation was getting out of hand and the apprentice was rebelling, doing a very good job of it, incapacitating their Pokemon and their vehicles, except for one van. He also managed to destroy the remote that activated his shock collar. It seemed likely that they would be arrested at the end of all this.

Lester's four Pokemon glared at the henchmen with murderous intent, probably drawing off the energy his angry personality was radiating. Another bottle, already lit, was handed to Lester from Charizard. Lester wasted no time, hurling it into the last van, watching it get destroyed the same way as the other two. A smirk crept across Lester's face, filled with a sense of twisted glee. His plan to escape was actually working. By the end of the day, he would probably be in the Witness Protection Program so he can testify against Jane if and when she gets arrested.

Deciding not to stick around any longer, the henchmen began to recall their Pokemon and attempted to flee the scene on foot. Lester turned to his Charizard, who nodded and took off. Removing the last bottle strapped to his front, and discarding the ropes used to attach the bottles, Charizard removed the cap and ignited the wick. Catching up to the fleeing henchmen, Charizard dropped the bottle in front of them. Before it could hit the ground, the Pokemon flew up and shot a Flamethrower down at it. The heat engulfing the already lit Molotov cocktail caused it to explode, spraying burning petrol and heated glass shards everywhere. The henchmen howled in pain as they were burned by the by-products of the exploded bottle. Charizard used Flamethrower on the ground in front of the henchmen, creating a wall of fire preventing their escape. Venusaur's Sunny Day was still in effect, so the wall of flames rose especially to an especially tall height, augmented by the sun and spilt petrol. Backing away, the henchmen tried to run in another direction but Lester was ready. He had a sadistic smirk on his face, his angry side still very much in charge.

"And just where do you fucking retards think you're going? Venusaur, SOLARBEAM NOW!"

Due to Sunny Day still being in effect, Venusaur charged up a white ball on top of his flower and immediately shot it as a beam toward the running men, squarely striking several of them and sending them to the ground. Their moans of pain reached Lester's ears.

"Togekiss, use Thunder Wave."

The henchmen were shut up when Togekiss' attack struck them, paralyzing them. The sun's light dimmed slightly, informing Lester that Venusaur's Sunny Day was no longer in effect. Lester took a few steps forward and surveyed the area. Small fires were burning across the field and around the vehicles, certainly due to Lester's Molotov cocktails. Lester grabbed his twelfth and final bottle, the one that used his plans as a wick, and uncapped it. His Charizard was too far away to light this one. Bending over, Lester caught sight of a small ember smothering on a stick in the grass, and smiled. Just one spark starts a fire. Picking up the stick, Lester lit the Molotov cocktail, deriving a certain satisfaction from seeing his paper wick, containing his plans, burn. Now no one will discover how he managed to obtain those weapons. Charizard flew back to rejoin his Trainer and fellow teammates.

Lester was about to hurl the Molotov cocktail, when the henchman lumbered out from behind the mini airship, having finished his call to Jane. Lester's eyes widened. How can a henchman still be up and about? Lester thought he took care of all of them. Seeing the fires, the lit Molotov cocktail in Lester's hand, and his incapacitated comrades, he quickly pulled out something from his pocket, another remote control to activate Lester's shock collar. Lester stood stunned, wondering how on earth the henchman could have an extra remote. But now was not the time to think. If that fool pushed the button, all of Lester's work would go down the drain. Without hesitation, Lester pointed a finger at the henchman.

"VENUSAUR, FRENZY PLANT! CHARIZARD, BLAST BURN! BLASTOISE, HYDRO CANNON!"

Before the henchman could press the button, Venusaur stomped on the ground, making it shake, and causing him to lose his focus. The ground cracked, and giant brown spiked roots shot out of the fissures, tearing up the ground around them and sending rocks flying everywhere, as they made their way straight toward the lone henchman. In a remarkable show of agility, he managed to leap out of the way of the root which shot from the ground. Venusaur frowned, and attempted to hit him again with another emerging root, only to meet with the same result. Every time the henchman moved, a root shot out the ground where he was standing a second ago, thwarting Venusaur's attempts to nail him with them. He landed in front of his comrades before jumping out of the way again, the roots that pursued him knocking a number of incapacitated henchmen several feet into the air. Lester watched them land with a sick thud, having no pity on them for attempting to stop his plan. After a few more failed attempts to hit the henchman with the spiked roots, Venusaur ran out of energy to use the attack, and had to stop going to recoup his energy.

Charizard stepped forward, glancing at the henchman which avoided his teammate's attack. He formed his right hand into a fist, and punched it into his open palm. A semicircular arc of fire shot out in front of Charizard. The flames disappeared, and new ones quickly formed in front of the area where the previous ones had extinguished. While they maintained the same semicircular arc shape as the previous flames, they covered a smaller amount of ground, but burned more intensely than their predecessors. These new flames also extinguished, and the pattern continued, rapidly advancing toward the henchman. Seeing the repeatedly extinguishing and reigniting arc of flames approaching him, the henchman grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and released the Pokemon inside. A Golem materialized in front of its trainer, blocking him from Charizard's attack. The arc of flames disappeared for the last time and new, more intense flames appeared right in front of Golem. Upon making contact with the Pokemon, the flames exploded in a smoky fiery inferno, engulfing the Golem. The smoke and fire disappeared, revealing a fainted Golem. Lester smirked. It seemed like the training he gave his Pokemon to overcome opponents with type advantages was paying off. However, the henchman was shielded by his Pokemon, and escaped the brunt of the attack. Charizard was forced to stop moving because he expended his energy on the attack.

Blastoise narrowed his eyes at the henchman, who succeeded in evading the attacks from two of his teammates. He became filled with determination. He decided that he would succeed where his teammates failed, and liberate them and his Trainer from Jane. Blastoise got down on all fours and fired off two small but powerful orbs of water straight at the henchman. Eyes widened at the sight of the fast approaching attack, the henchman ran, but the attack followed him. As he ran, the attack was gaining ground on him. Just as he thought he would be hit, he tripped over a small stone sticking out of the ground, landing flat on his stomach. The orbs of water passed by overhead, and collided with a tree, snapping it in two like a twig. The top half of the tree was blown forward by the force of the impact, and landed a few feet away. The henchman breathed a sigh of relief, dreading to think what might happen if the attack succeeded in hitting its intended target. Blastoise grumbled in frustration at the fact that he missed his target, just like his fellow starter Pokemon. Now he had to stand down due to the attack sapping his energy to move.

Still lying on his belly, the henchman counted his lucky stars, having avoided the severe injury that surely would have come had he been hit by one of those attacks. He looked up to see Lester approaching him with his Togekiss. Lester had extinguished the wick in the bottle he was holding, having done it while his Pokemon were launching their attacks. No sense in having it go off in his hand. Finger pointed at the henchman, he issued another order.

"Togekiss, USE THUNDER WAVE AND THEN AERIAL ACE!"

Togekiss shot a wave of electricity at the man, who quickly somersaulted across the grass to avoid getting hit by it. He then saw Togekiss approaching him, engulfed in a white light. Lester saw another ember on the grass and used it to reignite the wick in the bottle he was holding. Togekiss' ability was Hustle, which sharply increased the Pokemon's attack stat, thus boosting the power of physical moves like Aerial Ace, but at the cost of slightly reducing the accuracy of such moves. Since Aerial Ace was guaranteed to hit its target, that downside was eliminated. Togekiss slammed into the henchman with great force and returned to Lester's side. Groaning in pain, the henchman stood up and held the remote, a smirk on his face. Lester knew it then, that his plan would fail and he would be brought back to Jane, or even electrocuted to death on the spot. He still had the bottle in his hand, and decided to use it. If word of this got out, it would probably be determined that he was acting in self-defense, since the shock collar could very well kill him.

A second before the henchman pressed the button on the remote control, Lester hurled his twelfth and final Molotov cocktail at the henchman, before he and his Pokemon were overtaken by the pain of the shock collar activating. Due to the pain tolerance he acquired, Lester's angry personality did not scream in pain, but gritted his teeth as he convulsed on the grass.

Lester's Molotov cocktail sailed through the air, spilling its petrol fuel contents on the henchman, who squirmed as he was suddenly splashed by the liquid. The bottle landed on the grass in front of him, continuing to drip out petrol in a puddle at his feet. The burning paper wick, which had flown out the bottle, now floated almost gracefully in the air toward the henchman. His eyes widened in shock as the wick landed on the puddle of petrol at his feet, igniting it. The petrol immediately caught on fire and it quickly spread up his body which was drenched in more of the liquid.

The last thing Lester saw before he lost consciousness was the henchman engulfed in flames, screaming in pain, and rolling out the ground in a desperate attempt to extinguish the fire eating through his clothes. A small smirk forced itself on the corners of his mouth before everything went blank. With no one to turn off the power, the shock collar kept electrocuting the unconscious Lester. Mercifully for him, it soon short circuited itself out.

_3 hours later._

Lester slowly awoke, his jewel blue again, and found himself in a sitting position. A voice spoke.

"So you're finally awake, huh?"

The next thing Lester knew, he was struck in the gut. Attempting to stand up, he found that his wrists were bound by leather cords to the armrests of a chair, and his legs were similarly bound to the chair's legs. Surveying his surroundings, he found that he was on the airship again. Jane stood in front of him, and he was surrounded by many henchmen, one of which had his face, arms, and legs covered mostly in bandages. Lester couldn't help but smirk, recognizing the henchman he set on fire. But that smirk soon turned to disappointment when he realized that his plan had truly failed. Jane spoke.

"So you think you can just disobey me and get away with it? Your little stunt shall cost you dearly, my friend. You are no longer fit to be my apprentice. From now on, you'll be just a henchman of mine. As punishment for your attempt to escape, you shall be marked."

Lester's eyes perked in slight surprise. What did she mean by "marked"? Before he could ask, a henchman ripped open a small package containing an alcohol swab and began rubbing it against his left shoulder. The cool sensation surprised Lester, and he looked down at his shoulder. The sleeve of his jumpsuit had been ripped completely off. Lester heard a buzzing noise, and noticed that a different henchman had brought over a metal pen like device, connected to an electric outlet. At the end of the device was a sharp needle tip. Lester's eyes widened in shock as he saw that the device was a tattoo gun, and began to thrash about in his chair. Jane snarled.

"Sedate him!"

The henchman who applied the alcohol to Lester stepped forward, rubbing a pad into Lester's face. Lester inhaled the smell of chloroform and lost consciousness again soon after.

_4 hours later._

The first thing Lester felt when he awoke was a dull pain on his left shoulder as he stretched and tried to get his bearings. Discovering that he was lying on his bed in his room, Lester gazed at his shoulder to see what was causing him the pain. Only to discover that a short distance down from his shoulder joint, he now sported a tattoo of the word 'Invictus' in sharp yellow letters. Eyes widened in shock, he realized that it must have been applied to him when he was unconscious. He looked across his room and saw the closet open. Gone were the black jumpsuits inside, replaced by the uniforms worn by Jane's henchmen. A note was on Lester's nightstand.

_Did you seriously think you could escape me? You are sadly mistaken. Your life belongs to me now, and it would do you a great benefit to learn that the sooner you can. I have to admit, I had no idea where you managed to obtain those Molotov cocktails, but expect to be severely punished for using them against my henchmen._

_You may have incapacitated my henchmen, and even severely burned one of them as well, but he survived, as you saw earlier. If you are wondering how you were brought back to me, my henchmen used their Skarmory to fly you back here. You even used your wrist cannon against them. How dare you use my technology to attack my henchmen?!_

_As you have probably noticed by now, part of your punishment involves you being marked with that tattoo of the word 'Invictus'. It's the Latin word for 'unconquered'. While I have been unable to make you completely obey me due to your disorder, you remain unconquered by me. But you stepped way out of line with that act of yours. May that tattoo remind you that you are still very much at my mercy. Consider yourself lucky I haven't exterminated you, as I still require someone of your skill and potential in my employ. Your knack for strategizing may still be of use to me. Unfortunately for me, those two other useless personalities still plague your mind._

_Despite your traitorous act, I have allowed you to keep your room, those goggles, and that wrist cannon, as well as your Pokemon. You will be strictly monitored by my henchmen for the next year, or until I have decided that all intent of rebellion has been wiped from you. As I have said earlier, you are no longer my apprentice, despite performing in that capacity for the last six years. Instead, you will begin your new life as one of my henchmen. I can't let you go since you know too much already._

_Don't make me regret my decision in letting you live. The worst you got was a tattoo and a demotion, and I believe even that was too good for you. Cross the line again, and I will make sure that you never live to see tomorrow._

_Your mistress,_

_Jane._

Lester sighed heavily, having gained an undesirable piece of body art and becoming a mere henchman. He got up from his bed and went to his bathroom, running cold water over his tattoo to dull the throbbing pain. Heading over to his closet, he changed out of the ripped jumpsuit and into one of the henchman uniforms. Frowning at his new tattoo, Lester sought some consolation from the event. Perhaps now the media will forget about him, now that he was no longer Jane's apprentice.

True to Lester's predictions, the media did stop covering him, running a short feature about where Jane's apprentice may have gone. The feature received relatively little attention, possible because no one really noticed Jane to begin with.

The Molotov cocktail incident uncovered many engineering flaws in the vehicles utilized by Jane's faction, particularly the close proximity of the engines to a high volume of fuel. This was immediately corrected, and the engines on the mini airships were better fortified so they could withstand a hit from a weapon like a Molotov cocktail. Because of the serious breech in security the Molotov cocktail incident revealed, it was dubbed 'The Incident' and became taboo for the henchmen to mention. While it was common knowledge among members of Jane's faction employed after "The Incident" that Lester was once Jane's apprentice, they had no idea what caused him to be demoted. However, they could not explain why Lester would suddenly clench his fists, bite his lip, and look sharply at his left shoulder whenever someone mentioned the words "Molotov" or "cocktail". Lester would also tell them to mind their own business when asked about it, leading them to believe that it was somehow connected to "The Incident".

As a henchman, Lester was treated in somewhat of a higher regard than the others, due to his training and experience. While he was no longer under any obligation to do so, Lester continued the training he was subjected to as Jane's apprentice to keep fit. While it seemed unusual that Jane did not take away Lester's wrist cannon and goggles, he already knew how to use them well, so taking them away would be deriving a carpenter of the tools he used to work successfully.

Shortly after Lester stopped being monitored by the other henchmen 7 months later due to good behavior, Jane retired from the Pokemon hunting business and was replaced by her daughter Jen, who took the code name 'J'. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Lester did not give up on his goal to one day escape. He merely pretended to give up his wishes so the henchmen would stop monitoring him. It seemed that Lester was poised to spend the rest of his career as a henchman. Little did he know, his life would eventually undergo a big change once again, through the inadvertent actions of a boy two years younger than him.

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Author's Notes: And this chapter documents Lester's loss of apprenticeship status. The Molotov cocktail idea came to me after thinking of an easy to obtain, yet potentially devastating weapon. The sign in the bathroom from Chapter 3 played a pivotal role in fleshing out Lester's plot, since it is from there he remembered that some unfortunate sap had to service the vans. Personally, I think the Molotov cocktail fits Lester, due to how quickly it is made and how improvised his plan was. The hard part was determining how Lester would use the Molotov cocktails when he was rebelling, but I think I managed it well. Lester's attempted escape became taboo because it would honestly be embarrassing it word of it got out. I'm sure whoever is involved would rather it remain a secret. The decision to give Lester a tattoo as a symbol of his enslavement by J, was one I thought about for quite some time. I did watch the movie "Invictus" and like the title and the plot. The tattoo also served a dual purpose, to compliment Lester for being unconquered by Jane due to his disorder, and to insult him by reminding him that Jane has control over his life. I would like to extend my thanks once again to Johan07 for beta reading this chapter. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


	6. A Thorn in Her Side

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1.

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"Keep Calm and Carry On." – Slogan from a World War II British propaganda poster

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_2 years later, airship's training room, the skies of Sinnoh on the outskirts of Floaroma Town._

"So, is everyone clear on their jobs for the missions?"

"Yes sir!"

Lester, now 16 years old, rolled his eyes at the display of seemingly blind loyalty as J finished a mission briefing to a large number of assembled henchmen in the airship's training room. Since taking over the operation of the Pokemon hunting business from a mother, J has proven to be much more merciless and cruel than her, even appearing on the local news and on police advisory reports. Lester narrowed his left eye, as he hated the attention that the faction was now garnering.

Two missions were scheduled for today, one to capture a Gardevoir, and the other to capture an Absol. Although he would play no part in actually capturing either Pokemon, Lester was forced to be there because he had planned out the quickest route J and the henchmen should take to get to the Pokemon involved, after studying the geography of the area. He prepared himself to leave the room as the briefing drew to a close, knowing that in about an hour, the airship would land in the clearing he recommended, at the base of a series of sloping cliffs. Traversing them would be easy, as roads had been carved out of the rock for the convenience of the people living nearby. The house where the Gardevoir lived was only a short distance away.

The henchmen left the room to begin preparing the vans for the mission. Owing to "The Incident" two years ago, they now had more armored fronts, able to resist many Pokemon attacks. That memory caused Lester to grit his teeth slightly, as he knew that he was directly responsible for that "improvement". Shaking those thoughts from his mind, Lester focused on the schedule. In an hour's time, the airship would land, J and the henchmen would swoop in and capture Gardevoir, and they would leave. The actual mission shouldn't take more than ten minutes, if everything went according to plan. Sometimes, the trainers of the captured Pokemon would resist, delaying the mission. J's faction relied on efficiency and keeping a schedule, so that was a major annoyance. Lester had to harshly put down a number of those struggles himself. Though he hated it, he had no choice but to follow orders. That was the way things had been since he was kidnapped from the orphanage 8 years ago.

_85 minutes later, Lester's room._

Lying on his bed, and thumbing through the pages of a book, Lester checked his alarm clock. The airship had landed almost a half hour ago, and J still had not returned. While Lester didn't care about what happened, since he wasn't actively participating in either mission, he wondered if the police had arrested J. The thought of that possibility quickly disappeared from his mind as he remembered that J had been specially trained to evade the police, something he had also learned several years ago. But just in case, he decided to check. Getting off his bed, he headed out his room to one of the windows in the corridors, so he could see if she was arriving soon.

_5 minutes later._

Lester gazed out the window, tapping on the glass to pass the time, as he had been standing there for almost 5 minutes. Soon, he caught sight of a familiar van and a Salamence with a woman and an Ariados on its back. They quickly entered the airship through a hatch on the rear end. J recalled her Pokemon, and running past Lester, quickly ordered them to take off. A minute later, Lester could see why his mistress was in such a hurry to leave. As the airship left the ground, Lester caught sight of four quickly shrinking human figures standing on the road. The figures were eventually specks on the carved road before Lester lost sight of them altogether. Rolling his eyes, Lester deduced that they were likely the reason that the mission took 20 more minutes than it was supposed to. But just in case, he decided to ask.

Tapping a passing henchman carrying a video camera on the shoulder, Lester inquired the reason for the delay. The henchman shrugged.

"Oh that. Shortly after we captured Gardevoir, three kids showed up at the Trainer's house. I'm guessing they were just passing by. Anyways, we quickly left, but somehow one of the kids, who had a Pikachu, suddenly appeared on the road in front of the van. He got his Pokemon to use Thunderbolt on the van, but the attack didn't have any effect, thank to the improvements made following 'The Incident'." Lester frowned slightly before resuming his impartial facial expression. Being recruited after the fact, this henchman didn't have a clue on what "The Incident" entailed, and Lester wasn't about to drop any hints. With a slight nod, the plump henchman continued his story.

"So we stopped the van, and J confronted the boy, complimenting him on his Pokemon's Thunderbolt. The ignorant brat protested our activities, so J used her Drapion. The Pikachu charged at Drapion with Volt Tackle, and J's skillfully trained Pokemon dodged it. Bad move on the Pikachu's part, since J now decided to capture it. Pikachu stopped next to Salamence, and J froze it with her wrist cannon. The boy tried to reach his Pokemon, but J's Ariados tied him to a rock using its String Shot. So we loaded Pikachu on the van and left." Lester rolled his eyes. So that was why J was late, she captured another Pokemon on the way back. Talk about getting distracted and consumed by greed. It seemed like someone did try to resist. Lester found a certain satisfaction in having his theory confirmed, as Dr. Bannon mentioned; it was a sign of perceptive insight. However, the henchman wasn't finished.

"But that's not all, while we were driving back, smoke covered the road. I went out to see what happened, and there were these two people, a man and a woman, dressed in white with a red 'R' on their shirts. They also had a Meowth with them. These strange people proceeded to deliver this stupid and unusual long motto, calling themselves 'Team Rocket'. I've never heard of them before. And here's the kicker, the Meowth can talk! How unusual is that?" Lester's raised an eyebrow at the news. Team Rocket had operations in Sinnoh. As far as he knew, they were only based in Kanto and Johto. But then again, the movements and territory of criminal organizations was hard to predict and track. Lester motioned for the henchman to continue.

"Anyhow, the strange folk also had a Seviper, a Wobbuffet, and a Mime Jr. with them. They seemed to want the Pikachu we had just captured, but J's Salamence blasted them away with a Hyper Beam. They tried to retaliate, but J had her Ariados tie them to a boulder with String Shot. J froze the Meowth, we loaded it onto the van, and boarded the airship to leave. And now here we are having this conversation. It was nice to chat, but if you'll excuse me, I have to go and video catalogue our new acquisitions." The henchman walked down the corridor and disappeared around a corner. Lester sighed. J captured another Pokemon on the way here? No wonder she took an extra 20 minutes. That woman had no impulse control when she saw a potentially valuable Pokemon. Seeing as they would soon arrive at the location of their next mission, Lester decided to head back to the window and watch the action.

_10 minutes later._

Looking through a pair of binoculars from his position at the window, Lester had a clear view of the hut at the edge of the forest where the Absol's Trainer lived. He watched as the hapless man was bound by Ariados' String Shot, while J froze his Absol in stone. A boy with black spiky hair was wearing a black shirt with white sleeves and a yellow stripe, jeans, and a red baseball cap ran down the small slope and began yelling at J, accompanied by Officer Jenny. Lester guessed that the boy was the Trainer who had his Pikachu stolen. How did they manage to find this location? Lester continued to watch as Officer Jenny's Arcanine fired off a Flamethrower in response to a Hyper Beam attack from Salamence. The oval jewel on his chest turned from blue to red as he saw the Hyper Beam overwhelm the Flamethrower and send the boy, Officer Jenny, and her Arcanine flying back. Lester smirked. If this was the best the local police force could do, his own Pokemon won't have much of a problem dispatching them. His jewel changed back to its blue hue as he observed Absol being loaded on the van. J's Salamence and the van headed off to the airship.

From his vantage point, Lester observed as a girl and a teenage boy stood in front of the van with their arms spread out, attempting to stop it. His eyes widened in surprise. They were fools! They would simply get run over, considering J's lack of consideration for human life. Fortunately for them, the van ran over a slope, soaring over the two before landing back on the ground, headed for the airship. As the airship was loaded up and took off, Lester wondered where the other boy was. He seemed to have disappeared after being knocked back by Salamence's Hyper Beam. Lester doubted that he was killed by the attack, since Officer Jenny and her Arcanine turned out fine. Shrugging his shoulders, Lester went back to his room to start reading his book again. The corridors were beginning to fill with henchmen who had just returned, and were congratulating themselves on a job well done.

_30 minutes later, Lester's room._

Lester was distracted from his book when an alarm began to sound, indicating that there was a problem with the airship. After a minute, it subsided. Lester shrugged his shoulders again and returned to his book, assuming that the alarm was simply being tested.

Lester would later learn that the boy who had his Pikachu stolen and those Team Rocket members managed to sneak on board the airship after the Absol was captured. They made their way to the storeroom where the Pokemon were held, and successfully freed them. A scuffle in the room between the boy's Pikachu and a henchman's Golbat broke a hole in the wall, destroying the airlock. To save her airship, J ordered that room detached and jettisoned from the airship, even though some of her henchmen were inside. Lester was disgusted by this, as J had simply made that decision without any regard for the people who were working for her. It also made him slightly more paranoid that the same thing might happen to him. But since he was supposedly important to the faction for his tactical planning, he dismissed those thoughts. The Gardevoir and the Absol being freed annoyed Lester, because he might be asked by J to devise another scheme to capture the two species of Pokemon again.

Changing his thoughts to another subject, Lester thought the Pikachu Trainer to be persistent and determined, going so far as to sneak on board the airship just so he could have his Pokemon back. Now that he thought about it, Lester was sure that he saw the boy somewhere before. He searched his memories, trying to find the answers he wanted. Last year's Ever Grande Conference in Hoenn! The boy was a participant there. While Lester occasionally watched the Pokemon League Conferences, it was mostly to get ideas for battle strategies. Rarely did he ever focus on the people actually participating in the events. But that boy stood out to him, because of the tactics he used at that conference. Lester also remembered the mention that the boy participated in the Indigo League Conference in Kanto, and the Silver League Conference in Johto as well. However, since he had missed those events on television, the Ever Grande Conference was the first time Lester actually saw the boy in action. Some of the boy's tactics were even adopted by Lester's crazy personality. Now if he could only remember the boy's name. Lester searched his mind hard for it, eventually remembering it after thinking for about an hour. The boy is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. The name came to Lester especially because Ash shared the same hometown as him. Remembering the bond and synergy Ash had with his Pokemon, Lester was glad that he had managed to rescue his Pikachu. That act also symbolized the kind of relationship that trainer had with Pikachu, a loving and caring one. After all, J didn't go out looking for Pikachu, she just took it. Hearing that the henchmen had been arrested by Officer Jenny, Lester was relieved to know that Ash survived his ejection from the airship. He also hoped that Ash wouldn't cross paths with J again, for he might not be so lucky next time.

_2 weeks later, airship's mess hall, the skies of Sinnoh near Mt. Coronet._

"So, how do you think today's mission will turn out, Lester?"

Lester looked up from his bowl of breakfast cereal to face the gruff henchman who asked him that question. Lester's Ninjask and Shedinja, who were eating Pokemon food from dishes on Lester's other side, turned to look at the henchman as well.

"How should I know? I'm not a psychic."

"And yet you seem to have a knack for predicting these things."

"Either way, I sincerely hope that you people manage to catch that Shieldon. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to plan out that mission? That nature preserve near Mt. Coronet is massive. Luckily, I managed to figure out where the Shieldon would be today."

"Oh quit your whining, Lester. It's not like you plan out all of J's missions, you know. You're not even doing the actual capturing today either, so I don't get what your problem is."

"My problem, for your information, is that if this goes awry, J might have my head. And I'd rather not be shocked today, if you know what I mean." Lester gestured at the shock collar around his neck. The henchman scoffed.

"It's not like you will deliberately point us to the wrong section of the preserve. Like you said, it's your head on the line." Lester muttered a few incoherent words under his breath before turning his attention to the henchman.

"Speaking of which, don't you have something to prepare for?"

"Oh no! I'm running late! I have to be at the garage in 3 minutes or J will have _my_ head! Thanks Lester!" The henchman ran off, leaving Lester alone at the table with his Pokemon. A pleasant smile appeared on Lester's face as he turned to his Pokemon.

"Now that he's gone, how about we continue our meal in relative peace?" Ninjask and Shedinja nodded in agreement, returning to their food. Since the henchmen left, Lester had the mess hall to himself. He placed four food dishes on the floor, released his other Pokemon from their Pokeballs, and offered them their breakfast.

_2 hours later, airship's control room._

"Hey Lester, check this out. These three buffoons snuck onboard but I trapped them. And guess what, that Meowth talks! I'm guessing they are the same 'Team Rocket' members who tried to interfere with the Gardevoir and Absol missions."

Lester looked up from the screen on the control panel, which provided a live feed into one of the airship's corridors, where two Team Rocket members and a Meowth were sitting on the floor, trapped by two retractable steel walls. He turned to the airship's pilot, who showed him the screen.

"What the heck are they doing here? Meh, they probably want to steal the Pokemon we have. Anyway, how is the mission going?"

"We currently have all possible escape routes blocked off. Whoever is handling the Shieldon now is trapped in that section of the preserve. More of our people are also headed to the area. Commander J herself has gone to personally flush out our target. I'm just monitoring the situation from here."

"Well, good luck on that. I'm off, since today is still my break day." the pilot nodded.

"Alright then, see you later."

_30 minutes later._

Lester sauntered down a corridor, having heard that the mission was a success and that the client would be coming soon to pick up the Shieldon that J had captured. He walked around the corner and was taken aback by an explosion which rocked his surroundings.

Peering around the wall, he saw two boys, a Pikachu, an Electivire, and an Umbreon attacking the walls of the corridor. Bending his head in to get a closer look at the two boys, Lester's eyes widened in surprise as he saw that one of them was Ash. He couldn't identify the other boy, who had red spiky hair, was wearing a black shirt, purple pants, and an oval purple pendant. It didn't take long for Lester to figure out that the two boys had something to do with the Shieldon J just captured, possibly its caretaker. Despite his previous feelings about Ash, Lester couldn't simply stand there and let him and his friend continue their attacks. Pulling out Shedinja and Blastoise's Pokeballs, Lester prepared to attack the two boys while they were distracted with their activities.

Lester's thoughts of attacking were cut short when three henchmen emerged on the other side of the corridor. The two boys stopped their attack and dashed off, running straight past Lester without noticing him. Lester gave chase, pursuing the boys as they used their Pokemon's attacks to blow holes into the walls of the airship for a way out. The two Team Rocket members and the talking Meowth also escaped, running past Lester, but he paid them no heed. Reaching the airships outer walls, the boys' Pokemon proceeded to blow a hole into it as well, alerting J and the henchmen outside.

Staying inside the airship at the hole, Lester watched as Ash ran out the airship and made a dive for the capsule containing the captured Shieldon. Three henchmen attempted to get to the boy, but were knocked back by the Electivire and the Umbreon. Lester sighed at their stupidity. Seriously, who rushes head on at the enemy like that when they are bound to have Pokemon out? Ash freed the Shieldon from the capsule, as the other boy ran out with Pikachu. Lester sent out his Shedinja and Blastoise, and was about to order a Shadow Ball from Shedinja and a Flash Cannon from Blastoise. Before his Pokemon could follow through on his request, they were interrupted by the arrival of the client's orange helicopter. Lester listened as the client called off the deal, citing the impending arrival of Officer Jenny as a reason. Watching J and her henchmen make their way back to the airship, Lester shrugged, recalled Shedinja and Blastoise, and went off to the training room, thinking of ways he could strengthen his Pokemon.

_3 weeks later, airship's control room, somewhere in the skies of Sinnoh._

From his seat in the control room, Lester looked up at the screen set in the front as a henchman explained his reasons for the mission's delay. Lester vaguely remembered that today's mission was to capture a Riolu who knew Aura Sphere. While notable, since Riolu cannot normally learn Aura Sphere, Lester couldn't see the big fuss the client was making about wanting that Pokemon. If and when it evolved into Lucario, it would still know Aura Sphere. Since most Lucario come to learn that move anyway, there wouldn't be anything distinctive about the Pokemon anymore. Ironically, a Lucario would probably stand out more if it _didn't _know Aura Sphere.

Lester's attention was drawn back to the screen as the henchman explained that the Riolu escaped with a Pokemon Ranger. J asked if it was Kellyn, to which the henchman confirmed. While Lester didn't know how J knew Kellyn, he was slightly annoyed that a Pokemon Ranger was involved. Unlike trainers, they had the ability to make use of whatever Pokemon was in the area, which made things all the more troublesome for criminals. Lester's eyes widened as the henchman projected an image of Kellyn with the target Riolu. Next to them were three humans, a Pikachu, and a Piplup. One of the humans was Ash. Lester briefly remembered that the girl and the teenage boy next to him were the two that ran in front of the van during the mission to capture Absol 5 weeks ago, and were almost run over. After the henchman signed off, Lester excused himself from the room to get a cup of coffee. Having pinpointed the Riolu's location on a river, J left soon after to capture it.

_40 minutes later._

After a long period of trying to find another coffee machine when the one in the break room stopped working, Lester finally headed back to the control room, coffee in hand. His patience had run thin in his search for a coffee machine, and his jewel was now red. A spark of red to his right caught his eye, and he turned to the window next to him, only to see the forest that the airship was flying above, on fire. He saw a small blue form from the window spewing fire at the trees below and recognized it as J's Salamence using Flamethrower to draw out the target, while causing a major wildfire in the process. Lester frowned and mused to himself.

"That stupid bitch! Why is she using Flamethrower on the forest?! HEAT WAVE WOULD HAVE MADE A MUCH BETTER CHOICE! IT MAY BE THINNER, BUT IT'S WAY MORE SPREAD OUT AND MORE POWERFUL THAN FLAMETHROWER!"

Realizing that he was shouting, and remembering that J's Salamence didn't know Heat Wave, Lester sighed and took a sip of his coffee to calm his nerves. A thought came to him, and his jewel switched to yellow.

"But on the other hand, look at all those pretty little fires, spreading around like there's no tomorrow….AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

_5 minutes later._

Thanks to the coffee, Lester's jewel was back to a blue color by now. Storm clouds appeared above the forest, and it began to rain, putting out the fires. Lester shrugged; a Pokemon Ranger was trying to help Riolu after all. He probably took temporary control of some water type Pokemon and had them use Rain Dance. The airship began to descend. Lester guessed that J managed to capture the Riolu and was now returning. The rain soon subsided while they were loading up the airship. J walked past Lester, informing him that they did in fact manage to capture Riolu, and were leaving to meet the client. Lester shrugged again, and turned his attention back to the window to watch the airship take off. As the airship gained altitude, Lester observed that very little of the forest was severely damaged by Salamence's Flamethrower. Looks like that Kellyn wasn't called a Top Ranger for nothing.

_5 minutes later._

Still at the window, Lester observed a small figure fall out of the airship towards the forest. Seeing the speck of red on top, Lester realized that the falling figure was Ash. He sighed. Knowing the sort of person Ash was, he probably snuck on board the airship a third time and tried to confront J at the control room. Lester figured that J must have activated the drop chute located in the control room to jettison Ash and his Pikachu out the airship. Lester sighed. That was one long fall to the ground. Though anything was possible, it was a far stretch to think that Ash would survive that. It seemed like J got rid of that persistent nuisance once and for all. Lester walked back to take his place at the control room.

_15 minutes later, airship's control room._

The airship landed at the bottom of a canyon, as Lester watched a henchman inform J that the client was arriving shortly. J nodded and left the room, with the henchman carrying the capsule containing the stone Riolu.

_10 minutes later._

J quickly dashed into the control room, ordering everyone inside to take off immediately. The henchman that accompanied her into the room was now looking out the front window. Lester turned his attention to the man.

"Need I ask?" the henchman looked at Lester, and then started talking.

"After we met with the client and handed over the Riolu, those meddling brats from earlier had the nerve to show their faces again. The client's men got ready to fight, so Commander J decided to leave, since we already received payment for the mission."

Lester sighed. While he was relieved that Ash survived his fall, Lester found it absolutely distasteful that J should abandon her client the minute she got the money she wanted, even if he was also a criminal. That woman really had no regard for the problems her action caused others. If the client got out of that jam, Lester doubted that he would want to do business with J again. Massaging his temples to get his thoughts straight, Lester was interrupted when a small explosion rocked the front of the ship. If one looked outside, he would see two familiar Team Rocket members and a Meowth flying off into the distance.

_6 weeks later, the skies of Snowpoint City, Sinnoh Region._

Binoculars pressed to his eyes, Lester peered out the airship's window he was standing at to view the Snowpoint Temple. Apparently, a client had requested that J capture the legendary Regigigas slumbering inside. Lester found it daring yet ludicrous that J should attempt such a mission, considering that a legendary Pokemon was involved. Even if she did capture it, it seemed stupid to simply give it to a client when she could keep such a rare and powerful Pokemon for herself. He sometimes wondered if J had her head screwed on correctly. Though it was his break day, Lester decided to watch the mission since it was such a high profile one. The vans were already parked outside the temple as J herself walked inside. As per the orders, the henchmen were supposed to secure the perimeter in case anyone else tried to get in.

A massive pyramidal shape approached the temple, which Lester identified as the Battle Pyramid, a facility from the Battle Frontier in Kanto. Its Frontier Brain was Brandon, a man who apparently had the legendary Regirock, Regice, and Registeel in his possession. Lester had no idea how he came to own such Pokemon, but he guessed that the man's presence would be a threat to the success probability of the mission. Soon enough, he saw large numbers of Skarmory and Metang attack the Battle Pyramid. One of the henchmen must have sent word to J, who commissioned the attack. Lester watched as the Battle Pyramid was brought down by the onslaught of attacks, crash landing in the snowy forest nearby.

A small hover vehicle emerged over the horizon and Lester zoomed in on its occupants with his binoculars. Driving the vehicle was Brandon, with Ash and his two friends in the seats, accompanied by a temple maiden. The Skarmory and the Metang geared up for another attack, but were stopped by a Thunderbolt and a BubbleBeam from the Pikachu and the Piplup standing on the vehicle's wings. Lester sighed. If the henchmen's Pokemon can be stopped like that, J's faction needed a serious overhaul in its Pokemon training regimen. It made Lester wonder how his own Pokemon (except Shedinja who was outright immune to those attacks) would fare against the Pikachu and Piplup. Maybe he was being paranoid, but Lester decided to squeeze a lot more Pokemon training in his schedule just in case. He watched as the people inside the vehicle scrambled to enter the temple. From there, it would be them against J herself.

_10 minutes later._

J emerged from the temple on her Salamence's back, ordering her henchmen to retreat to the outskirts of the city, while she went back to confront Regigigas. Soon after, a Hyper Beam shot out of the temple's entrance, destroying the building's façade. In front of the massive pile of rubble lay the people who followed J inside the temple, shielded by Brandon's Regis. Regigigas broke free from the rubble on top of it and began firing Hyper Beams in all directions, causing further damage to the mountain the temple was built into.

Lester was hooked on the unfolding action, scared to even blink in the fear that he might miss something significant. He observed Brandon order a counterattack on Regigigas with his own Pokemon while J watched from the sidelines. Brandon ordered his Pokemon to use attack after attack, in a desperate bid to stop Regigigas from destroying anything else. After a while, Lester saw Brandon reach into his pocket. Zooming in with his binoculars, Lester saw that Brandon was holding a Pokeball, intent on capturing Regigigas. Before the man could throw the spherical object, J used her Ariados' String Shot to tie everyone up.

Before J could use her wrist cannon to freeze Regigigas in stone, the Pokemon emitted a red glow, causing Brandon's Regis to turn around and face J. They fired on Salamence, and Lester realized that Regigigas used Confuse Ray to take control of the Regis. The four Legendary Pokemon walked away from the temple. J flew off to join her henchmen, and the airship followed.

_10 minutes later, the outskirts of Snowpoint City._

J and the airship arrived at the valley leading out the city to meet with the assembled vans. Lester watched from the airship's window as he saw Regigigas and the Regis approaching them, using Hyper Beam in random directions, and causing much damage to anything the attacks struck. The airship fired of beams at the ground to trap the Pokemon, but the Regis used Hyper Beam to stop it. Unfortunately for them, the airship's weaponry overwhelmed their attacks, striking the ground and destabilizing it, causing Regigigas to fall through the ground due to its own massive weight. The airship shot an adhesive at Regigigas, which started to harden, trapping it. Not willing to take this lying down, Regigigas shot a Hyper Beam at the airship, causing it to bank to the right. Lester almost fell over from where he was standing due to the impact, grabbing onto the window frame to keep himself from sliding down the corridor. The airship ascended to avoid any further attacks from the trapped Legendary Pokemon.

As soon as he regained his bearings, Lester zoomed in his binoculars to compensate for the higher altitude. He observed as J flew towards Regigigas on her Salamence, skillfully dodging the volley of Hyper Beams sent her way by the Regis. J shot her wrist cannon at Regigigas, but Regirock slid in the way, getting frozen instead. Lester saw the hover vehicle and its occupants arrive on the scene. J attempted to freeze Regigigas again, but Registeel jumped up and took the hit, getting frozen and landing on the ground with a thud. Lester struggled to keep his eyes from blinking; watching to see if the next shot would be the one to freeze Regigigas. He decided that he would need a whole bottle of eye drops for his dry eyes when this mission was over. J flew around, trying to nail Regigigas from another angle, but Regice leapt up and got frozen instead, the force from the wrist cannon causing it to get pushed backwards and slamming into Regigigas, landing on its back when its stone form reached the ground.

J attempted to freeze Regigigas a fourth time, but she failed once again. The reason? Brandon leapt out of the hover vehicle and jumped in the way of the wrist cannon's beam, getting frozen in stone instead. Regigigas lifted its hand and caught the stone man. Lester was stunned. He tore his eyes from the window for a moment to stare at his own wrist cannon. That thing could freeze humans in stone? Think about how useful that would be. Lester's attention returned to the scene outside as J tried a fifth time to hit Regigigas, only for the hover vehicle to appear in front of the giant Pokemon. The Pikachu and Piplup on board sent a Thunderbolt and a BubbleBeam at J, causing Salamence to respond with a Dragon Pulse. The collision of attacks caused a cloud of smoke to cover the area, which J took advantage of by having Salamence use Dragon Pulse again.

Before the attack could cause severe injury to the people in the hover car, Regigigas broke free from the adhesive, getting in front of the vehicle. It shielded them from the attack and reflected it back at J and her Salamence, destroying her wrist cannon in the process. J looked like she was about to attack again, but turned around and left with the vans to board the airship, which had by now landed in the valley. Lester would later learn that the client canceled the order due to the commotion and destruction caused by the four Legendary Pokemon. As the airship took off, the last thing Lester saw from his vantage point was Regigigas using Hidden Power to undo the effects of the wrist cannon on Brandon and the Regis. So it seemed that there was a Pokemon move that could counter the wrist cannon. Lester was sure to remember that.

_2 hours later, J's office._

Having replaced her damaged wrist cannon, J scowled as she thought about the boy who had interfered with her missions four times. He was such an annoyance. However, for him to pose such a threat to her, he must have quite the skills to do so. A thought came to J. What if she managed to get Ash on her side, as an…apprentice? She would surely be more efficient in her business of stealing Pokemon. Her mother had tried and failed before with Lester, which J now considered a prototype. But what caused Lester to fall short of all expectations?

J thought hard and came up with an answer. Her mother had made a mistake in letting Lester keep his Pokemon and his identity. With something to hold onto, Lester had more of an incentive to fight for it and rebel, as "The Incident" clearly showed. Capturing Ash would be easy; he always seemed to find a way on board her airship when it was on the ground. Considering the boy's determination and spirit, how could she make him comply? He seemed to definitely have a strong bond with his Pokemon, evidenced by him sneaking on board to get his Pikachu back after she captured it. Suddenly, it didn't seem as difficult as it looked. All she needed to do was threaten harm on the people and Pokemon he loved, after she kidnapped him, that is. Taking his Pokemon captive, she would then give him a fake name, a code name that would take over all aspects of his identity. With his identity belonging to her, it would solidify the grasp she had on him. With that done, she just needed to slowly and meticulously break down any remnants of defiance, something her mother couldn't do with Lester due to him being allowed to keep too many aspects of his former life.

Lester still proved to be a useful henchman for J, and he had her wrist cannon. Because of "The Incident", J decided that no one else in her employ be allowed to have that piece of technology. J began gathering every piece of available information on Ash. Now it was only a matter of time before she found him. When that day came, she would be ready to grab him and convert him to her side.

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Author's Notes: This chapter was quite challenging to write, probably because it was an anime adaptation. Writing one of those usually involves watching the episodes (or just the scenes you want to adapt) over and over again. As you can tell, this chapter is an adaptation of the episodes "Mutiny in the Bounty!", "Ill-Will Hunting!", "Pokemon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu Parts 1 and 2", and "Pillars of Friendship!". Dialouge from the episodes are not included, particularly because it would involve watching the episodes many more times so I could get the words right. Finding where to place Lester in some scenes also proved to be a challenge, since he's not supposed to interfere with the storyline already presented in the episodes. My least favorite J episodes are probably the Riolu ones, and I found those the hardest to adapt. My dislike for those chapters probably stems from scenes of Pokemon defeating stronger species with relative ease. The client's henchmen are caught when a Trapinch uses Rock Tomb to surround them and their Pokemon. They have a Rhyhorn, a Graveler, a Golem, a Nidoking, and a Tyrannitar. I can think of so many different ways they could bust out of that but somehow, they get arrested. If the producers wanted to show that, they could have at least given those henchmen weaker Pokemon so viewers don't think the heroes' Pokemon are ridiculously overpowered and Mary Sue like. If Lester seemed more apathetic in this chapter than in previous ones, it's due to J's emphasis on his calm personality being in constant control. As a result of that, his other two personalities only make brief token appearances here. The end of this chapter sets the stage for the start of "J's Apprentice", and I had J treat Lester like an object or a tool as opposed to an actual person, considering her lack of regard for the people around him. She would cut you off from herself if you were detrimental to her or if she didn't need you anymore, and needed to find an excuse to get rid of you. An adaptation of "The Needs of Three!" is not included, since J pretty much dies in that episode, and Johan07's story treats it like it never happened. If anyone is wondering, Lester has since forgotten who Dawn and Brock are and what they look like by the time "J's Apprentice" occurs 3 years later. He will only remember that two people used to accompany Ash. My sincere thanks goes out to Johan07 for beta-reading this chapter, just like the ones before it. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


	7. The Rise of the Elites

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1. Surfin' Bird belongs to the Trashmen.

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"No great thing is created suddenly." – Epictetus

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_1 month later, airship's training room, somewhere in the skies of Sinnoh._

A boy with raven hair sat unconscious on the floor, shackled by his arm and legs to the wall. As he began to stir, he tried to move, discovering his restraints and the shock collar recently placed around his neck. The doors to the room opened as J and one of her henchmen sauntered in. Ash immediately took notice of the two figures, screaming her name in recognition.

Lester peered through the two-way mirror in the adjacent room, having a clear view of the action in the training room, where he had first woken up on the airship after being kidnapped from the orphanage 8 years ago. Thanks to the speakers in this room, Lester could also hear what was going on as well, every word exchanged between J and Ash reaching his ears. Two henchmen were seated at either side of Lester.

"So run this by me again, why on earth did mistress insist that I watch this?" Lester asked the henchman to his left, who was shoving popcorn in his mouth, treating the scene in the next room like it was a thriller movie. The henchman pretty much ignored Lester, not hearing his question. Lester rolled his eyes. The other henchman in the room glared at his partner before replying.

"I have no idea. But we are under strict instructions to watch you and make sure you observe all of this. And don't even think of dozing off, or you will awaken in a very shocking manner." Lester rolled his eyes at the henchman's wordplay, before wondering to himself how on earth anyone could fall asleep watching this. Before he could continue observing the figures in the training room, he heard a loud yawn to his left. Turning to check the source of that, he found the henchman to his left had finished his popcorn and was now leaning back against the wall, snoring loudly. Rolling his eyes again, Lester watched at the other henchman reached over and began to shake his partner, berating him for his laziness at the same time. Lester sighed, as he realized that J had kidnapped Ash for the sole purpose of making him her apprentice.

_That night._

A henchman shoved a cup of coffee in Lester's face, as he was prohibited from leaving the room until Ash had made his decision. That said; J didn't want Lester to fall asleep either, since she wanted him to witness every second of the action in the training room. Lester took the coffee, his sixth one tonight, and downed it in one gulp, ignoring the burning sensation running down his throat. He was told that would be his last coffee. After that, he would be given energy drinks. Lester sighed. This was going to be a long night for both him and Ash, who sat awake considering his options.

_The next morning._

Despite the steady supply of caffeine, Lester struggled to stay awake as he watched J speak to Ash again. When he heard that Ash's Pokemon were frozen in stone to be kept as hostages, Lester's eyes widened in shock. He wasn't made to give up his Pokemon when he was captured. Lester sighed as he listened to J rationalize her reasons for wanting Ash as an apprentice, his left eye twitching slightly when he heard J tell Ash that his skill exceeded that of the _morons_ on her airship. Why did he have to be grouped with people like the buffoons sitting next to him? He ran his fingers along his own shock collar as J explained the purpose of the one on Ash. The unpleasant memories just seem to keep coming back. After Ash finished his meal, and was escorted out the training room, a henchman tapped Lester on the shoulder and told him that he could leave. Lester stretched, walking out the room to take a nice, long nap after being kept awake the previous night. As he headed to his room, Lester wondered if Ash would be put through the same paces he was when Jane had kidnapped him.

_3 days later._

Lester was once again made to watch Ash from the adjacent room as the boy was told by J that he would be named Nao Kilesen, the Black Raven starting from today. Lester sighed, remembering that he was not made to give up his name when he became Jane's apprentice, though he was rarely called his real name by her. For the next six hours, he observed Ash being put through the same intense training he was, sighing as more unpleasant memories forced themselves to the surface of his conscious. Was this the reason J made him observe Ash? So he could be reminded of the failure of an apprentice he was? He was a henchman just like almost everyone else on the airship, why weren't they being made to watch this? Lester really had no idea. As Ash was taken away to rest, Lester walked off, his mind full of unanswered questions.

_6 hours later, the skies of Kanto near Pallet Town._

After a brief stopover at the Viridian Forest, where Lester received word that Ash had captured a Shiny Drapion and a giant Scizor, along with a large number of other Pokemon, the airship took off on a course for Pallet Town. If Lester's memory served him well, Ash's first mission was to steal the Kanto starter Pokemon with J for a client. Lester sighed, remembering how J's mother had initially tried to sell the starter Pokemon he had for a profit before deciding to give them to him. To rub the memory in further, J had made Lester plan out that mission like the tactician he was. Lester wondered how Ash would fare; having to return to his hometown and come face to face with the people he loved.

_1 hour later, airship's training room._

The unconscious Ash, held down by henchmen, woke up abruptly as his mistress slapped him hard across the face. J shouted at the boy.

"You little brat! How dare you disobey me?"

In the adjacent room, Lester flinched slightly as he heard every stinging word from J's mouth, courtesy of the room's speakers. Once again, he was forced to watch as Ash was scolded by J. From what Lester knew, Ash attempted to rebel against the henchmen's treatment of his friends and family by attacking them with his Pokemon. He remembered his own attempted rebellion, an act that constituted such a breech in security that mention of its details was forbidden. Lester observed as J slapped Ash and practically shoved the name "Nao" down his throat. He was never abused that harshly, apart from the tattoo he got, so all his pity was concentrated on Ash. What happened next was completely unexpected by Lester.

"Bring Nao's Pokemon here at once." J ordered. Lester narrowed his eyes, wondering what she was up to.

When Ash's Pokemon, frozen in stone, and sealed in capsules were brought in, Lester saw the Pikachu, Grotle, Staraptor, Monferno, Buizel, and Gible that Ash owned. He especially remembered Pikachu, having seen it action a few times against J, and on television at the Ever Grande Conference in Hoenn a year ago. A Pichu with an unusual spiky ear was also brought in a cage. J smirked.

"It's time to break your spirit." Lester's eyes widened as a big hole opened in the centre of the room, immediately realizing what J was planning to do. He saw Ash struggle as his stone Pokemon were dropped into the hole. He saw Ash weep as he saw his Pokemon for what could very well be the last time. The Pichu was spared as J decided that it would be Ash's new Pokemon.

Lester sighed heavily. J was really taking things too far. Even he didn't have to give up his Pokemon. They were the heart and soul of any Trainer. Taking them away from one may very well kill him on the inside. Bowing his head, out of sight of the henchmen watching him in the room, Lester let a few tears fall to the floor, his goggles concealing his teary eyes.

_1 hour later, J's office._

J finished filing her paperwork on the mission completed today, and had just finished a call from another client, when a knock was heard on her door. She pushed a button on her desk.

"Come in."

The door opened, and Lester strode in casually.

"You called?" J frowned slightly at Lester's monotone voice, but decided to ignore it.

"Yes. I suppose you saw the example I made of my apprentice?" Lester nodded.

"Who? As…I mean, Nao?" J had a sinking feeling that Lester almost said her apprentice's real name on purpose, but decided to continue anyway.

"I suppose you realized that he now occupies a position of great authority here, a capacity you used to fill with my mother." Lester sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Get to the point." J was getting incensed at Lester's apathetic tone and perceived disrespect.

"Don't act all dull around me. You should be grateful that you still have your name and your Pokemon, something Nao dosen't! Someone needs to put you in your place."

"Meh, it's not something I haven't heard before. If I recall correctly, I'm in my current place as a henchman because of your mother. My life for the last 8 years has been about me being put in some position or other."

"Trying to be a smart aleck, eh? Well get ready to be put in another place, and who better to do it than Nao." Lester raised an eyebrow.

"What scheme are you up to this time?"

"You recall how I made you watch the hell I put Nao through, the same hell you yourself once experienced. I want you to watch as this boy becomes something you could never hope to achieve." Lester narrowed his eyes. Ignoring it, J continued.

"Every commander needs his soldiers. And if my apprentice is to fulfill my expectations, he will need help. Today will mark the beginning of a new group of warriors for the Black Raven, the Chosen Elites." Lester shrugged.

"So you called me into your office to rant about your plans?" J was really getting ticked.

"No, I didn't call you in here just so you could listen. There is another reason I had you observe Nao."

"Oh really? And what would that be?"

"Look at how his training is so similar to yours. You were once raised to be an apprentice, but now you will occupy a new position. You are to become the first of the Chosen Elites. This new group shall begin with you. As my mother created the framework, I shall now build on it. You should be honored." Lester narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.

"Honored? For your information, I want no part in the nonsense that sprouts from your mouth. Tell your plans to someone who actually cares. And for the record, I pity in advance, any poor soul you manage to seduce into joining your planned posse." J slammed her hands on her desk and stood up from her chair.

"DO NOT speak to me like that, _Invictus_. You should be grateful that I am even considering you for this. This is your chance at redemption, for "The Incident" which made you fall from grace. You could have been where Nao is today, if you didn't develop that mental disorder. For that you can only blame yourself. It is your fault after all." Lester's oval jewel changed color from blue to red.

"Oh really? THIS IS ALL MY FAULT? MY FAULT?! MY FAULT FOR HAVING A MENTAL DISORDER THAT CAME ABOUT WHEN YOUR MOTHER ATTACKED THE ORPHANAGE?! MY FAULT?! HOW ABOUT THE ORPHANS THAT DIED THAT DAY?! I SUPPOSE THAT IS MY FAULT AS WELL?! WHAT AM I TO YOU, YOUR FAILED EXPERIMENT, YOUR SCAPEGOAT THAT YOU CAN DUMP ALL YOUR GRIEF AND MISTAKES ON?! YOU STUPID BITCH, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE AND MAN UP?! Oh wait, you don't know how to." J regained her composure at Lester's outburst and glared sharply at him.

"You bastard, who the hell do you think you are? If I wanted to, no one would hear from you ever again." Lester's jewel immediately changed from red to yellow.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ooooooooo…Speaking of hearing, what is the most common cause of hearing loss in a man? It happens when his wife wants to talk to him! BWAHAHAHAHA! Oh by the way, if you don't want to know how I really feel about you, I suggest NOT opening the drawer on the bottom left side of your desk."

J eyed her mother's former apprentice suspiciously for a minute, before peering at said drawer. She opened it, thinking that he was trying to pull a fast one on her.

**SPLAT!**

J looked up from her drawer, her face almost completely covered in cream. A flattened cream pie was attached to a large bouncing spring. The spring itself was attached to the bottom of the drawer J had just opened. Lester burst out laughing once again.

"Dang. You fell for it! HAHAHAHAHA! I should express how I feel right now, _in song_! A-well-a, everybody's heard about the bird. Bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word. A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word. A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, well, the bird is the word. A-well-a, bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word." Having gotten over the shock of suddenly being hit the face by a pie; J's rage was at an all-time high as she listened to Lester sing "Surfin' Bird" in an unnaturally high-pitched voice. It was time to end that annoying repetitive song. She opened a drawer and grabbed a familiar remote control.

"Alright Invictus, now you've done it! It's time for…" SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! "Ow!" J dropped the remote and clutched her hand as something small and fast hit it multiple times. She shook her hand to get rid of the stinging sensation and looked down at the floor. Ten rubber bands were lying at her feet. J was puzzled

"What the hell?" the huntress, wiping some cream from her eyes, looked up at Lester, who had stopped singing by now. In the time it took for her to reach the remote control, Lester had drawn two guns, and was pointing them straight at her face. The gun in his left hand was obviously a toy gun, made of wood and designed to fire off ten rubber bands in rapid succession. He had certainly used it to make J drop the remote. The gun in his right hand looked suspiciously like a Desert Eagle. The resemblance was uncanny. J's eyes widened as Lester pulled the trigger.

**SPLASH!**

A concentrated jet of water shot out of the toy gun in Lester's right hand. The water hit J squarely in the face, washing off some of the cream. J sputtered as the water forced some of the cream into her mouth. Seeing her reaction, Lester put away his toy guns and began laughing all over again. That was the last straw for J. Stretching out her foot, she stepped on the button of the remote control on the floor.

Lester's shock collar activated, and started to course electricity throughout his system. Instead of screaming in pain however, Lester's crazy personality began to laugh even harder until he fell unconscious. J switched the shock collar off, and shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the residual echo of Lester's laughter. She briefly considered confiscating his toy guns, but shook that thought off when she realized that he almost certainly had extras. Where did he get all those prank items from? Did he raid the neighborhood joke shop whenever they attacked a city? J couldn't care less about that now, as long as his antics didn't bring down her whole organization.

"Damn that crazy son of a bitch…"J cursed as she wiped the last of the cream and water from her face. When she was done, she summoned a henchman and ordered him to take Lester away, with a special punishment in mind for his stunt. J turned to a large filing cabinet at the corner of her office. Contained inside it were the records of every henchman in her employ, sorted alphabetically.

Shifting through the drawers of records, J found what she was looking for. Lester's file was old and battered, and the tab of that file folder was completely ripped off, almost as if someone would rather have it hidden. All of Lester's mission records were inside, with a copy of Dr. Bannon's diagnosis on his condition. J grabbed the sheet with Lester's personal information. Front and side view photos of his face were glued to the top right corner. What was most glaring to a reader was that under the space reserved for a name, the words "Dawson, Lester" were crossed out with a black pen so violently; it almost ripped through the paper. Scrawled right next to the cancellation were the words "Failed Experiment". J smirked, remembering the source of the words with which she so liked to label Lester. The occupation space of the page had the word "Apprentice" slashed out, with "Henchman" written next to it. Pulling out a pen, J crossed off that word too, and wrote "Chosen Elite" next to it. J reached for an index card and glued it to the front of the Lester's file. Thinking about "The Incident", she wrote on the index card: "Keep an eye out for this one; I don't want the first Elite to become a fallen Elite."

The top drawer of the filing cabinet was empty. Grabbing another index card, J wrote "Black Raven" on it, before slotting it into the card bracket on the drawer. Picking up a file folder full of Ash's information, she placed both it and Lester's file inside the now labeled top drawer. Before J closed the drawer, she wondered exactly how many files would be added to it in the years to come.

_2 hours later, Lester's room._

Lester blinked rapidly as the light invaded his eyes. His jewel back to its usual blue, he opened his eyes fully and stretched his arms, noticing that he was lying upon his bed. Almost immediately, Lester clutched his left shoulder as a dull pain made itself known to him. That pain felt familiar, Lester was sure of it. He struggled to remember the last time he felt such pain. The last time he felt it was…two…two years ago…when he was…he was…tattooed.

Eyes widened, Lester tore off his shirt and glanced at the affected area. Sure enough, there was another tattoo, right above the "Invictus" word tattoo applied to him when he was 14. This new tattoo was a stylized raven. Lester's eyes widened in surprise, and he gritted his teeth, as he realized that for the third time in his life, he had been forced into a position in J's faction against his will. While the promise of more authority brought by the position was welcome, Lester disliked the publicity this newly founded group was sure to receive, just as he was comfortably settling into the newspapers not writing about his deeds. And to top it off, he would have to answer to Ash now. While he was sure that there would be no problems with following commands, he was unsure of the leader Ash would be. Lester decided to get up and wash cold water over his now larger tattoo to relieve some of the pain.

Sighing heavily as he did this, he thought about his new life as an Elite. Apart from the new tattoo, it might be something he could get used to. Not having the henchman ask him stupid questions would be a plus. And he could command them again, just like he did as Jane's apprentice. Walking out his bathroom, Lester did a double-take when he saw his bed. On the wall above the headboard, there was now a giant wall painting of his tattoo. Gripping his head to get over this sudden shock, he walked over to his closet and noticed that his henchmen uniforms were gone. In their place were black leather jackets, black jeans, plain black T-shirts, and black sneakers. What was most glaring to Lester was that all the jackets had iron-on patches of his tattoo on the left chest area. Lester let out another heavy sigh. J was really insisting on shoving this logo down his throat, to emphasize the point that he was now an Elite, like it or not. There was no note on the nightstand to explain anything, and in Lester's mind, J's actions spoke volumes. He belonged to her, and she could place him wherever she wanted.

After changing into the new outfit and slapping his oval jewel onto the right chest area of his jacket, Lester sat on his bed, massaging his temples. If J was really going through with her plan, he was merely the first, more will soon follow. Lester remembered his words to J, spoken just 2 hours ago.

"_I pity in advance, any poor soul you manage to seduce into joining your planned posse._"

When he spoke those words, Lester really meant them. Having this new group of Elites would only draw more people into this murky and shady business. Lester knew that the group could only grow from here, and he was their unwilling first member. He sighed, a heavy burden weighing on his mind. Usually, the first person to join a group would be in a position of prestige, experience, and respect. Lester didn't feel that this was the case for him. He would soon have to meet his new leader face-to-face, having observed him from the sidelines for the last 4 months. If they were to work together, he just hoped that they would both get off on the right foot. Lester hesitantly walked out his room and went off to meet Ash, consoling him on the loss of his Pokemon only a few hours ago.

Ash looked up as Lester walked into the training room, unsure how he should react to this stranger. Lester simply offered his hand and introduced himself. Ash still looked suspicious, despite being told by J of the formation of the Elites. Lester decided to speak first.

"You know, we have a lot in common." Ash still looked skeptical.

"How so?"

And that began a long conversation, where the two of them exchanged back stories and their experiences with J's faction. Ash was slightly surprised to find that Lester was once in the same position as him now, but was glad to know someone else wasn't here on their own accord. Lester smiled, it seems that one way to gain another's trust was through conversations like these.

Despite Lester's initial reservations, Ash proved to be a capable leader. They trained together occasionally, and sometimes hung out in the break room. While Lester was initially resentful that he was now in a lower position than the apprentice rank he once occupied, he came to hold a large amount of respect for Ash, due to how capable he was, and how well he bonded with his new Pokemon. He could tell that his new leader also respected him as well, a trait required for any group to function as a coherent unit.

Speaking of a group, Lester could only watch as ten other people were eventually inducted in the ranks of the Elites over the next 3 years. As the group grew, so did their reputation as Black Raven's followers. Black Raven himself was widely chronicled in the media for his vast and destructive crime spree. Lester, now 19 years old, sighed; remembering the various ways in which new members were brought in, as he realized that J's idea for the group was coming to fruition. Every time someone joined the Elites, Lester was present as the new member was introduced. More often than not, it was Ash that was responsible for enlisting them, with J's approval. Being the first Elite, Lester was frequently asked to train any new recruits, becoming a mentor figure to a number of them. As they gained experience, an Elite would become a veteran. Lester had the unusual distinction of being declared a veteran when he was inducted into the group, due to his long history and experience with the faction. His role in particular, was the group's strategist and Pokemon researcher. Like any group, the Elites had their own internal scuffles, disagreements, and problems with each other, possibly due to their very different origins and ragtag arrangement. Lester snarled as he remembered the last time a new member joined the Elites only a week ago, an example of one such disagreement.

_A week ago, airship's meeting room._

Ash had just finished introducing the Elites' newest addition. While some of them seemed uninterested, others took a keen eye to the new recruit, wondering what might be brought to the table with this one. Lester, like he did with all the other members when they first joined, gazed at the new recruit, trying to find the potential that Ash saw for the person to be Elite material. Before the meeting ended, Ash called on Lester to give an address to the new member. Lester stood up and walked to the front of the table.

"Allow me to congratulate you for taking this life changing decision to join us. On behalf of the other Elites, I extend a warm welcome to you as one of us. As I'm sure you're aware, joining the Elites is not a decision to be taken lightly. Your skills will be tested, your will to perform shall be scrutinized, and your loyalty to these ranks will be examined. But rest assured, we are here to assist you every step of the way. However, there will be those who decide to stand in our way…" Lester's jewel changed from blue to red. "…IN WHICH CASE WE SHALL CRUSH THOSE MEDDLING AND IMPULSIVE FOOLS. NO ONE SHALL INTERFERE WITH OUR GOALS! AND THOSE THAT DO WILL PAY DEARLY!" Lester's jewel changed again, this time to yellow. "Ooooooo…And once they are thoroughly defeated, we shall draw mustaches on their faces with permanent markers! Mustaches are funny! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

As Lester kept on laughing, many of the other Elites rolled their eyes or groaned at his words. In their eyes, their most experienced comrade was making a mockery of their group and embarrassing them. The new recruit in particular, was surprised by the varied emotions Lester showed throughout his address. The Elites stood to leave, some of them mocking Lester or yelling at him to be quiet next time. Lester smirked at he saw them walk to the door. A timer was counting down in his head.

When the door slid open, a loud bang was heard, followed by some smoke, causing those closest to the door to back away suddenly, bumping into the people behind them. Some of them fell in a heap due to the surprise, groaning in pain. Lester laughed with renewed vigor, as his prank had succeeded. Being the last person to enter the meeting room, Lester had shoved some ring caps for toy cap guns under the door. When the door was opened, it slid across the ring caps. The pressure put on the ring caps by the door caused the gunpowder inside to go off, creating the sudden noise and smoke. Ash and the unaffected Elites simply sighed as the group had failed to get along again. Lester simply stepped over the pile consisting of some his fellow dazed comrades, and continued down the corridor to his room, laughing all the way.

For the next week, Lester kept a sharp lookout for retaliation. He still believed that the other Elites had it coming, since they were mad at him for his mental condition. Some of them did in fact try to figuratively strangle him, but he managed to dodge every attempt to do so. Lester looked around. His dart gun, rubber band gun, and water pistol were loaded, just in case another Elite tried to get at him again. If that didn't deter them, it was a last resort, but Lester kept his wrist cannon at the ready, though he hoped he wouldn't have to use it on one of his comrades.

Thinking about his missions, Lester found that his next mission tomorrow, was to steal an Alakazam and a Glaceon from a rich family living in Hearthome City in Sinnoh. Considering the care they could afford for those Pokemon, Lester wasn't surprised that the client wanted them. After that, Lester's next mission was a week later, at the Valley of Steel in the Hoenn region, where he was supposed to capture a giant Steelix.

_The next day, Hearthome City, Sinnoh Region._

Lester, his jewel a bright red, stared at a mansion, beautifully constructed and elegantly painted pink. Beyond that fence lived the targets. The henchmen accompanying him were grumbling, after it took them quite a while to find the mansion, which was located in a part of the city where few people went. Lester sighed at the henchmen's complaints.

"YOU LOT HAD BETTER ZIP IT OR I WILL PUMP DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE INTO YOUR ROOMS TONIGHT! GOT IT?!"

That did the trick. The henchmen quickly shut up, thinking that dihydrogen monoxide was a dangerous gas Lester had somehow managed to obtain. What they didn't know was that dihydrogen monoxide was merely a complex and obscure chemical name for water. Lester smirked. Sometimes it was just too easy. If the other Elites heard about this, and knew what Lester was talking about, those henchmen will become a laughing stock. Lester's jewel changing to blue, they walked around to the back of the mansion. In the garden beyond the fence, statues of Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina in its Origin Forme were arranged in a triangular formation around a massive statue of Arceus.

What really drew Lester's attention to the statues, apart from the eye-catching detail, was that a diamond the size of a ping pong ball had been placed in the chest plate of Dialga's statue. The shoulder plates of Palkia's statue featured two pearls the size of lacrosse balls. The yellow segments of Giratina's statue appeared to be sculpted from platinum. What was most impressive was Arceus' statue, the wheel on it was created from pure gold, with four emeralds studded in it. Sixteen Plates created from painted rectangular floor tiles were embedded in the pedestal of Arceus' statue. The henchmen were practically drooling at the mouth due to the potential value of the precious items featured in the statues. Lester spoke up.

"Hmmm…The statues are sculpted from limestone. Interesting choice, considering the fact that acid rain ruins this stuff." Lester received several weird looks from the henchmen, who found it odd that he should care about the material the statues were made from. The henchmen began a discussion amongst themselves.

"Just think, if we bring back that diamond, those pearls, and those metal parts, you think J will promote us to Elite status?"

"I can just see it now; we'll be among the faction's 'cream of the crop'." Lester sighed and rolled his eyes. The henchmen were beginning to get too full of themselves.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but J will be furious if you bring any of those statue parts back, period. And besides, I do believe that new Elites are chosen by Nao." Lester was met with several glares from the henchmen.

"What the fuck do you know? You weren't chosen by Nao, you were _promoted _by J! And why would she be pissed at having riches brought to her anyways?" Lester shrugged.

"Have it your way, but I can almost guarantee that you people will probably wind up servicing the vans or something. In fact, I'm so sure of it that I'm willing to bet on it. If I win, you will each owe me 1,000 Poke-dollars. If you win, I will give each of you 1,000 Poke-dollars. Do we have a deal?" Lester was stared at as if he just grew a second head. The twelve henchmen accompanying him smirked.

"It's a deal. You just lost yourself 12,000 Poke-dollars." a henchman spoke. Lester shrugged again.

"We shall see. In the meantime, get us inside."

"Yes sir!"

A henchman sent out a Golem, and ordered it to use Hyper Beam. The Pokemon complied, its attack busting straight through the fence and decapitating Giratina's statue. The stone head fell a short distance from the neck it sat on just a second ago. The henchmen charged into the breach made in the fence as Lester followed at a leisurely pace. The resulting commotion caused a finely dressed man to run out the house, followed by a woman and two young girls. The man glared fiercely at the intruders.

"What is the meaning of this?" Lester looked at the man with relative disinterest.

"I am one of Black Raven's Chosen Elites, and I have come for your Alakazam and Glaceon. If you hand them over peacefully, we will be on our way and no one will get hurt." he replied in a monotone voice. The man hardened his glare.

"You criminals are not getting away with this. Go! Alakazam and Glaceon!"

"I think he was a battle, sir." a henchman pointed out to Lester, whose jewel turned red again.

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?" Lester's jewel changed to yellow. "But I accept his challenge. I'll give him a battle so intense; it'll take caustic soda to dissolve away the memory of it once I'm done! AHAHAHAHAHA! In the meantime, round up that woman and those girls." the henchman nodded, and went off to do as he was told. Smirking, Lester removed the jewel from the right side of his jacket. He then pocketed the color-changing stone, preventing the opponent from using it to predict his strategies based on his personality. Reaching for two Pokeballs to make it a double battle, Lester found five of his six Pokeballs, and chuckled as he remembered what he sent his Ninjask out to do.

_Meanwhile, on the airship._

An Elite, returning from a mission, entered a combination on the keypad outside his room's door. While an Elite had free reign over his or her room combination, the keypads were connected to J's computer, so she knew all the combinations on the airship at all times. Unbeknownst to the Elite, he was being watched by a small insect-like Pokemon clinging to the ceiling behind him. Lester's Ninjask smirked as he took a mental note of the combination the Elite entered into his keypad. It would come in useful if his trainer had a scheme planned.

_Back with Lester at Hearthome City, Sinnoh Region._

Having made his decision, Lester hurled two Pokeballs, releasing his Venusaur and Shedinja. He eyed the man briefly, before calling out an attack.

"Shedinja, use Shadow Ball on Alakazam. Venusaur, attack Glaceon with Sludge Bomb. Ha!"

Lester's Pokemon wasted no time in complying. From its halo, Shedinja charged and fired a black sphere at its target, while Venusaur attempted to nail Glaceon with globs of brown sludge from his mouth.

"Alakazam and Glaceon, dodge those attacks!" After the man's Pokemon dodged successfully, he decided to switch to offense. "Now, Glaceon, use Ice Beam on Venusaur. Alakazam, you use Shadow Ball on Shedinja! Take it out of the equation!" Glaceon shot a blue beam from its mouth at Venusaur, while Alakazam charged a black sphere with its spoons, firing it at Shedinja.

Lester considered his options. If Shadow Ball hit Shedinja, it would be instantly knocked out. But he couldn't let Venusaur get hit by the super effective Ice Beam. There was only one thing to do.

"Oooooooo…Shedinja, help Venusaur."

Shedinja performed an unusual aerial maneuver, circling the Shadow Ball and inadvertently dodging it, before diving in front of Venusaur. Shedinja took the full brunt of the Ice Beam, but its ability Wonder Guard made it immune to any offensive moves that were not super effective against it. Shedinja simply shook off the hit like it was nothing. The wayward Shadow Ball struck the arm of Palkia's statue, knocking it clean off and sending it flying into some of the Plates sticking up on the pedestal of Arceus' statue. Being made of ceramic floor tiles, they broke easily, scattering ceramic shards all over the grass. The man looked horrified at this destruction, while Lester looked as if he was having the time of his life.

"You'll pay for that! Alakazam, use Psychic on Venusaur! Glaceon, get Shedinja with your Shadow Ball!" Alakazam pointed its spoon at Venusaur, outling him in white and lifting him above the ground. Eyes widedned, Venusaur tried to struggle as he was held in the grip of the super effective move. Meanwhile, a Shadow Ball shot from Glaceon's mouth was quickly approaching Shedinja. Lester came up with a comeback to both the man's comment and his opponent's attack.

"Oooooooo…Cash, check, or credit? Hee Hee Hee. Shedinja, counter that attack with your own Shadow Ball."

The two Shadow Balls collided with each other, each pushing at the other for dominance before both flew in separate directions. One hit Arceus' statue in the left foreleg, knocking off a large portion of the stone limb. The other shot off the tip of the tail from Palkia's statue. Alakazam flung Venusaur with its attack, sending him skidding across the lawn, slamming into the pedestal of Arceus' statue. A Plate fell from the pedestal, hitting Venusaur on the head, causing him to wince slightly. Both Trainers wasted no time.

"Alakazam, use Psychic on Venusaur again. Glaceon, use Bite on Shedinja."

"Venusaur, use Sludge Bomb on Alakazam. Shedinja, use Dig. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Alakazam attempted to use Psychic again, but lost its concentration as it saw globs of sludge approach it. The attack hit it squarely in the chest, bringing it down on a knee. Purple sparks surrounded Alakazam, signifying that it was now poisoned. Fangs bared, Glaceon leapt at Shedinja to bite it, who darted into the ground, completely avoiding the hit. The man looked genuinely surprised and agitated.

"But how? My Alakazam's ability is Synchronize, so your Pokemon should be poisoned as well!" Lester scoffed.

"My Venusaur is part poison type, and poison types can't get poisoned. Anyways, Venusaur, use Earthquake."

Venusaur stomped down on the ground, causing vibrations to be felt across the yard. Arceus' statue, weakened from the loss of a leg, fell when its other foreleg broke due to the vibrations, the body sloping forward broke it off from the hind legs. The statue body of the Alpha Pokemon fell on top of Dialga's statue. The tips of the rear fin on Dialga's statue broke off from the impact. The stone head of Arceus broke off the body and rolled across the ground for several feet before stopping. The legs of Dialga's statue buckled from having to support such a huge weight suddenly being placed on them. The vibration also served to disorient the two opposing Pokemon, who struggled to keep their footing on the grass. While Earthquake was an attack that normally inflicted double damage on an underground Pokemon, Shedinja's Wonder Guard kept it from taking _any_ damage from the move. Having Alakazam and Glaceon disoriented also prevented them from sensing Shedinja's underground movements. Shedinja shot out from the ground under the poisoned Alakazam, causing it to fall over. This was the chance Lester was waiting for.

"Shedinja, use Shadow Ball."

"Glaceon, use Shadow Ball on Shedinja."

"Venusaur, block that Shadow Ball with Seed Bomb. Ha!"

Shedinja shot a Shadow Ball at point blank range, striking Alakazam, who yelped in pain and fell over from the super effective hit. Glaceon attempted to assist its teammate by sending a Shadow Ball at the occupied Shedinja, but it was negated by a stream of yellow seeds from Venusaur's mouth. Lester pointed his finger at the fallen Alakazam.

"Venusaur, use Frenzy Plant! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Spiked roots came out of the ground, colliding into Alakazam, and sending it flying several feet into the air. It crashed through the roof of the mansion, and a dull sickening thud was heard from inside. The Alakazam's Trainer gritted his teeth.

"Glaceon, use Ice Beam on Venusaur while it can't move!"

Glaceon complied, but before the beam could hit its target, Shedinja dived in front of Venusaur, using its ability to protect itself from damage.

"Shedinja, use Shadow Claw on Glaceon."

"Halt your attack and dodge it!"

Shedinja's extended foreleg was outlined in purple, as it charged towards Glaceon, who ducked out of the way. Forced to keep going, Shedinja's foreleg slammed into the torso of Giratina's statue. It then glided away from the statue, leaving a big indentation where its foreleg had struck. The cracked forelegs of Dialga's statue gave out from the weight of Arceus' stone body on top, causing both statues to fall over sideways, with the ends of the stone Dialga's legs breaking off completely. The spikes jutting out from the chest plate of Dialga's statue broke off as they struck the ground at an opposing angle. Arceus' stone body fell a short distance away. Lester smirked. Venusaur could move again now.

"Shedinja, use Toxic on Glaceon, Venusaur, use Sludge Bomb on Glaceon as well. Hee Hee Hee."

"Dodge those attacks, Glaceon."

Glaceon leapt gracefully into the air, avoiding the globs of sludge from Venusaur. Venusaur's attack continued on, where it hit the waist of Palkia's statue. The onslaught of sludge globs soon dissolved their way through the statue's thin waist, separating the top of Palkia's statue from its legs. The top section of the statue fell backwards on its thin wings, breaking them off. However, Glaceon couldn't dodge the stream of poisonous liquid from Shedinja, and was struck, poisoning it instantly. The man was getting tired of the destruction to his property caused by Lester's Pokemon.

"Glaceon, use Hail NOW!" the man ordered, having a strategy all planned out. When it started to hail, the bad weather would strike Shedinja, instantly knocking it out. Then, he would have his Glaceon use Blizzard on Venusaur, as the moves power and accuracy would be boosted by Hail. Venusaur would be dealt a lot of damage from the super effective attack if it didn't faint. But before the plan could be executed, Lester decided to throw a wrench in it.

"Shedinja, use Dig. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Before Hail could take effect, Shedinja dug itself underground, bypassing the negative effects of the weather. Hail began to fall, but Lester had another trick up his sleeve.

"Venusaur, change the weather with Sunny Day. Ha!"

Venusaur complied, and soon the hail disappeared, with an intensely bright sun replacing it. It was at this time that Shedinja decided to shoot up from the ground beneath Glaceon, sending it flying.

"Venusaur, use SolarBeam."

"Glaceon, use Ice Beam quick!"

Glaceon quickly recovered from the shock of being hit by Shedinja's Dig attack. Shaking off the pain caused by the poison, it sent a blue beam at Venusaur's SolarBeam, instantly charged due to the intense sunlight. The more powerful SolarBeam overwhelmed Glaceon's Ice Beam, and sent the hapless Pokemon flying into the torso of Giratina's headless statue, causing cracks to develop along the indentation made by Shedinja. Glaceon screamed in pain as its back scraped along the stone surface, hitting the ground with a thud. Lester knew he had to seal the deal now.

"Venusaur, use Earthquake. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The ground shook again, and the cracks along Giratina's stone torso spread around its circumference. The column of stone broke off from the legs, and fell on top of Glaceon, knocking it out. The man gasped in surprised as a henchman snuck up behind him and delivered a karate chop to the back of his neck, knocking him out. The henchman dragged the unconscious man towards the rest of his family, who by now had been chloroformed. Lester slapped his oval jewel back on his right chest, where it turned blue. Recalling his Pokemon, he turned to the henchmen.

"Go into the mansion and see if that Alakazam is unconscious or not. Since it didn't come outside, I'm guessing that Venusaur knocked it out. Bring it here." Lester turned to the Glaceon and froze it with his wrist cannon while three henchmen went to look for the Alakazam. A henchman spoke up.

"What about the statue parts?" Lester shrugged.

"Bring them if you want, but remember what I said." the henchman smirked.

"I still think you'll be short 12,000 Poke-dollars."

"And I still think _you'll_ be short 12,000 Poke-dollars AND have some vehicles to service."

The henchman called his comrades and they sent out their Golem. The Pokemon proceeded to use Hyper Beam on the broken up statues, breaking them into smaller pieces. Lester remembered that the statues were carved from limestone and came up with a way to get his revenge on the Elites who were still on his tail. The three henchmen he sent into the mansion returned with the unconscious Alakazam, which Lester proceeded to freeze into stone. He turned to the henchmen.

"We have instructions to destroy the scene, so have fun."

"Yes sir!"

The henchmen's Golem proceeded to use Hyper Beam on the mansion, quickly reducing it to a large pile of rubble. Lester turned to the henchmen.

"Before we leave, load our captures on the mini airship and bring whatever else you want." Lester watched as the stone Alakazam and Glaceon were placed in capsules and carried off. The henchmen also carried the stone Dialga's chest plate with the diamond, the stone Palkia's shoulder plates containing the pearls, the sections of the stone Giratina with the yellow platinum parts (the head, torso, and limb spikes), and the midsection of the stone Arceus with the golden wheel still attached.

While the henchmen were busy with their task, Lester examined the rubble that once constituted the mansion. He picked up a piece of the interior wall.

"Hmmm…Gypsum. This will most certainly come in handy." Lester picked up many pieces of the wall and hid them in his clothes.

Moving off to rejoin the henchmen, Lester saw that three Houndoom were standing near the rubble. They were ordered to use Flamethrower, incinerating everything that was salvageable.

_3 hours later, airship's training room._

"YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF COMPLETE AND TOTAL MORONS!"

J was yelling at her henchmen when she saw the statue parts, now all piled up in the training room. Lester was smirking, realizing that he won the bet he made with the henchmen. The henchmen on the other hand, were baffled as to why J was furious. Lester walked over to the statue Dialga's chest plate with a crow bar, and brought it down on the stone. The chest plate cracked down the middle, and the diamond, sized like a ping pong ball fell out. Picking up the diamond, Lester tossed it to J, who explained angrily that rich families like to make distinctive engravings on jewels they intended to keep in perpetuity. Such engravings are hard to see with the naked eye, but could be seen when magnified. This was done so that the jewel could be identified if it was stolen. Attempting to scratch off the engravings would only damage the jewel and decrease its value. Indeed, when the diamond was magnified, engravings could be seen all over its face, proclaiming the jewel as the property of the Beresford family. The same engravings were also found on the pearls from Palkia's statue. Though the engravings were also on the platinum pieces obtained from Giratina's statue, J decided not to melt them down as the platinum content in the metal was too low. She did however; pry the emeralds off the golden wheel from Arceus' statue. J decided to melt down the wheel since it was composed of pure gold. J also made the henchmen service the vans for a week because they brought back what she termed as "garbage". Lester smirked.

"Looks like I win our little bet."

The henchmen scowled as they each handed over 1,000 Poke-dollars. However, Lester couldn't quite celebrate. J turned to him.

"Clean this stone clutter up. You can keep the useless jewels if you want." Lester's jewel turned red.

"WHAT? WHY ME?"

"Because you solicited money from the henchmen over your bet, and did not tell them why they shouldn't bring back all this garbage." J walked out the training room, with some of the henchmen carrying the wheel from Arceus' statue. As the doors closed, Lester let out a scream that made others in the nearby area decide against going into the training room.

"SERIOUSLY?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

After his rage died down, Lester's jewel became yellow as he remembered what he could do with the limestone against the other Elites. He sent out his Togekiss, and had her use Aura Sphere on the limestone pieces, breaking them into smaller chucks. Spotting two empty Pokemon food buckets, he piled the limestone chucks into one, and loaded the gypsum wall fragments he snuck away from the mansion into the other. After he disposed of the excess limestone, grabbing the diamond, pearls, platinum pieces, and emeralds, Lester headed off with the buckets in hand. Before returning to his room, he grabbed several jars of honey and a bottle of food coloring from the break room and an empty detergent bottle from the laundry room.

Lester met his Ninjask outside his room. The little sneaky Pokemon had managed to make his way around the airship without being noticed by anyone. Smirking, Lester's crazy personality asked his Pokemon if he had what he was sent to obtain. Ninjask nodded, and pointed out a number combination sequence on Lester's keypad. Lester now had the room combinations of all the other Elites. Just in case, he decided to change his own room combination. He also made plans to sneak two more buckets with him on his next mission.

_A week later, Valley of Steel, Hoenn Region._

Several Skarmory flew overhead and fired off Air Cutter attacks, attempting to interfere with Lester and his Blastoise. Lester's calm personality looked up and shrugged as the pesky metal birds were dispatched by Flamethrowers from the henchmen's Houndoom. Lester turned his attention back to the matter at hand, the giant Steelix that he was supposed to capture. The Steelix tried to hit Blastoise with Iron Tail, but Lester simply told his Pokemon to step out of the way. The Steelix was the valley's ruler, which explained the annoying flocks of interfering steel type Pokemon the henchmen fended off. Steelix used Dig and went underground.

Before Lester could give a command to his Pokemon, Blastoise was struck by several bolts of electricity, causing him to wince in pain. Turning around, Lester saw a swarm of Magnemite and Magneton firing electric type attacks at his Pokemon. The henchmen that were supposed to take care of the nuisance had their hands full, as the steel type Pokemon kept evading the attacks from the Houndoom. Lester sighed. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. He sent out his Charizard and ordered him to use Heat Wave. Being a thin, spread out attack, Heat Wave hit the annoying Pokemon, causing several of them to drop to the ground, unconscious.

Lester turned his eyes back to the battle just in time to see Steelix surface under Blastoise. While the ground type attack didn't do much damage to Blastoise, it was enough to knock him back a few feet. Charizard flew around, on the lookout for any more of the giant Steelix's minions. Steelix used Iron tail again, which Blastoise dodged. The Pokemon's tail struck a nearby rock face, exposing some brown rock. Lester's eyes widened. His research was right. There was bauxite in the area. Chucks of it fell out the gouge made by Steelix's tail. The annoyed giant Pokemon charged and fired a Flash Cannon from its mouth. In response, Blastoise got down on his belly, causing the attack to hit another rock face instead. Gray rocks fell from the spot where the attack hit, which Lester identified as iron ore. No surprise, considering how many steel type Pokemon lived in this valley.

Steelix was panting heavily, exhausted from firing off so many attacks, most of which failed to hit Blastoise, who mostly dodged and managed to strike with attacks of his own. Lester flicked a hand gesture at Charizard, who nodded. The Pokemon flew off to the mini airship nearby to fetch the buckets Lester brought. The henchmen were too busy observing the battle to notice. Steelix used Flash Cannon again, but Blastoise dodged it. The attack hit the rock face, exposing more iron ore. Lester decided to end this quickly.

"Blastoise, use Water Pulse." Lester's Pokemon formed a blue sphere between his hands and hurled it at Steelix. The super effective attack struck Steelix, and exploded in a torrent of water, drenching Steelix. The giant Pokemon suddenly looked dazed, and began moving erratically, there was a small chance, but Water Pulse could confuse the opponent. Lester ordered another attack.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Cannon."

Two orbs of water shot from Blastoise's cannons hit the Steelix, knocking it backward into the bauxite rock wall, dislodging more of that stone. The giant Steelix crashed to the ground, its eyes swirly. The henchmen rushed to bring the fainted Steelix back to the mini airship. Lester watched as his Charizard returned, carrying the two buckets he had asked for. After tending to his Blastoise, Lester recalled both his Pokemon.

While the henchmen were still busy handling the capture, Lester shoved all the sand he could into one bucket, filling it. He then grabbed lots of scattered iron ore and bauxite rocks from the ground, piling them into the other bucket. Following the henchmen, Lester secretly stashed the buckets under his seat on the mini airship, formulating a way to sneak them to the training room later.

_2 hours later, airship's training room._

Lester brought in four buckets, containing the materials he obtained on his previous two missions. Emptying the iron ore and the bauxite on the floor, he had his Togekiss use Aura Sphere to break them up into little pieces. Taking away some of the bauxite, Lester poured sand and most of the limestone on top. Walking over to the other side of the room, he recalled Togekiss and sent out Charizard. Ordering a Flamethrower attack on the assembled pile of materials, Charizard complied while Lester slipped on a mask and gloves to protect himself from heat and fumes. When Charizard was finished, he was quickly recalled, and Lester left the room to grab a mortar and pestle from the break room, leaving the training room to air out.

When he returned, Lester saw that Charizard's attack had melted everything together into many marble sized pieces. Lester sent out all his Pokemon, who were baffled as to what he was up to. Grabbing some of the pieces and pounding them into power with his pestle, he decided to explain.

"You see, what I have here is rudimentary, improvised cement. Cement is formed from four distinct ingredients, and they are calcium, silicon, iron, and aluminum. The limestone statue pieces, when heated at high temperatures, become calcium oxide, basically calcium with some extra oxygen. Heating sand burns off any impurities and converts it to its purest form, silicon. Together, both calcium and silicon make up roughly 90% of cement. Now, the rest is composed of iron and aluminum, which can be obtained by heating iron ore and bauxite respectively. When all these substances are heated together at a very high temperature, namely Charizard's Flamethrower attack, hot enough to melt rock, you get these marble like pellets called clinker. By grinding these down into powder, like I'm doing now, you have cement." Lester's Pokemon looked very fascinated and impressed by what their trainer was doing. As Lester ground the clinker down with his mortar and pestle, he grabbed some of the gypsum and added it to the powder, grinding it down as well. Lester continued his explanation.

"I'm adding gypsum from the mansion's walls to the mix because it prevents this stuff from flash setting, or hardening on immediate contact with water. As you can see, I left out some of the bauxite and limestone over there. By exposing them to the same heating process as before, I get calcium aluminate. This chemical compound speeds up the setting of cement when mixed in with it. While I don't want this stuff to flash set, I don't want it to take all day to harden, if you get what I mean." Lester's Pokemon seemed extremely interested, however, they wanted to know what he was going to do with the cement. Lester continued, as he poured the powder into a bucket and ground more clinker down.

"As you all know, some of the Elites want my head, due to what happened 2 weeks ago when that new member joined us. A week ago, I'm sure you are all aware that I had Ninjask spy on the other Elites as they entered their rooms, so he could take down their combinations. Well, now I have the room combinations of all the other Elites. I have already singled out the three Elites who wanted to target me the hardest. On one of the following nights, while everyone else is sleeping, I will sneak into their rooms and pour the cement down their toilets. By the time they wake up, the cement will have set. They'll be in for a big surprise the next time they use those toilets. After the cement hardens, the only way to fix the clogged toilet problem is to outright replace the toilet itself. I also have another prank planned which I will carry out on that night as well." Lester calmly explained. His Pokemon snickered. The targeted Elites won't know what hit them. Soon afterwards, Lester had Charizard melt the remaining limestone and bauxite into calcium aluminate, which he added to the cement. He divided up the quick setting cement into three equal portions, and smiled when he found that he had enough to clog three toilets.

_That night, Lester's room._

On occasion, several questions plagued Lester's mind, mainly to do with the other Elites, preventing him from sleeping. Tonight was one of those nights. How many of them were genuinely committed to the faction's goals? How many of them were forcefully brought into this business like him? How many of them put up cold fronts in a bid to impress him, Ash, and the other Elites? How many of them simply wish to be free from J? How many of them would still be committed to the faction if Ash somehow escaped? How many of them were truly loyal to J?

Lester got up from bed. He was evidently not getting any sleep tonight. Reaching for his bookshelf, he took out a book and read the cover. "_The Variations of Dissociative Identity Disorder_" by Nathan Bannon. Lester smiled, remembering the psychologist who had given him his jewel and the Shiny Stone used to evolve Togetic into Togekiss. A year ago, the book was published, and Dr. Bannon had sent Lester a copy. It went on to become a bestseller, and put Dr. Bannon among the world's leading psychologists. His business boomed because of it. Though he wasn't named directly in the book, Lester knew that all of Dr. Bannon's observations referred to him. The psychologist had written a greeting to Lester on the title page, wishing him well and hoping that his condition could be cured. Lester smiled again at the kind words, and began reading.

After getting through a chapter of the book, Lester decided to perform the pranks tonight. Putting away the book, he got dressed, and picked up three buckets of cement, along with a bottle of detergent now filled to the brim with honey. Lester had added food coloring to make it still resemble detergent. His jewel changing from blue to yellow, he strolled out his room.

Sneaking along the corridors quietly, Lester reached his first target's room. Being careful not to make any noise, he entered the combination on the keypad, and tiptoed inside, leaving the other buckets outside. He quickly made his way past the sleeping Elite into the bathroom. Removing the bucket's lid, he poured the quick setting cement powder into the toilet. Sneaking out again, Lester then repeated the process with the other two Elites on his hit list.

Now it was time for his other prank. Lester knew that two Elites would be setting off on a mission to Eterna Forest in the Sinnoh Region in 3 days, and tomorrow morning was laundry day for the Elites. What his comrades didn't know was that Lester had already washed his clothes the previous day. Sneaking into the laundry room, Lester took away all the detergent bottles and replaced them with his bottle full of colored honey. Lester was unsure which Elites were going on the mission, so the clothes of all the other Elites would wind up getting saturated in honey. Lester snickered as he imagined two angry Elites getting chased by forest Pokemon attracted to the honey on their clothes, screaming his name in anger. Since he was staying up all night, Lester would probably wind up sleeping in the next morning, and miss laundry day. He hoped that his absence wouldn't be noticed.

After depositing the detergent bottles he stole from the laundry room in his room, Lester still wasn't tired. His jewel was blue again, and he decided to treat his Pokemon to a midnight snack. At the break room, he grabbed six food dishes and some Pokemon food, along with a bottle of soda for himself, and headed off to the training room.

Lester shut the training room's door behind him and let out all his Pokemon. They were confused as to why they were sent out at this hour, so Lester decided to explain.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep, so I figured that I would treat you guys to a midnight snack. Interested?" Lester's Pokemon sounded off in approval, and he placed a dish in front of each Pokemon, filling them to the brim with food. As his Pokemon ate, Lester took off his jacket and tossed it to one side. He popped off the cap from the soda bottle, taking a large gulp of the drink. Staring at his Pokemon happily eating, he let his mind wander.

Lester's eyes focused themselves on Togekiss, the last Pokemon he obtained. It seemed that she was the most protective of him, due to her kind and gentle nature. Well all his Pokemon were protective of him, but that was beside the point. He remembered the day he discovered her as an egg at Mr. Shellby's breeding house, the day so many unborn Pokemon were so mercilessly killed. The memories began flooding back of eggs exploding from the heat of a Houndoom's Flamethrower, the Pokemon fetuses twitching on the floor. Lester took another gulp of soda. The Shellby couple eventually rebuilt their destroyed breeding house, but nothing could bring back those Pokemon. The way Lester had met Togekiss reminded him so much of the way he was kidnapped from the orphanage 11 years ago. Memories of the orphanage's doors flying through the air, colliding with some of the orphans, and killing them instantly flooded Lester's mind. Like those dead unborn Pokemon, the world would never know of the potential those kids could have held. The Xanadu orphanage later became the Xanadu botanical nursery, a place Ash visited when he was younger, or so Lester was told. Since the two incidents, Lester had developed a soft spot for children and baby Pokemon. He finished his soda.

Lester's mind went straight back to the destruction at the breeding house. The egg shell pieces on the floor reminded him so much of shards…shards of…

Glass.

Lester looked at the bottle in his hand. It looked so similar to beer bottles, in particular the ones he used for his Molotov cocktails when he was 14 and tried to escape. Because of that, he received a tattoo. As he examined the bottle in his left hand, his shirt sleeve glided up his arm slightly, exposing the bottom parts of the word "Invictus". Lester used his right hand to completely roll up his sleeve, bringing his tattoo in full view. A stylized raven above the word "Invictus" in sharp yellow letters. The bottom part of that tattoo represented Lester's "fall from grace" as Jane's apprentice. The top part branded him as the first of the Chosen Elites, J's "cream of the crop". Both times, Lester been reassigned against his will. He gritted his teeth as J's face came to mind. His left hand tightened around the glass bottle as his angry personality took over.

Lester's Pokemon looked up from their food when they heard a loud crash. Looking behind, they saw shards of glass from a broken soda bottle. Worried, they turned to their Trainer. Lester was clutching his left shoulder with the tattoo tightly with his right hand. Teeth gritted, Lester let out some animalistic growls as he got on his knees. Still clutching his tattoo, Lester curled his left hand into a fist, and began punching the floor over and over again, ignoring the pain pulsing through his knuckles. Lester's Pokemon called out to him, but he acted as if he didn't hear them. Togekiss flew forward and wrapped her wings around Lester in a tight embrace, forcing him to stop. Panting heavily, he closed his eyes as his calm personality reemerged. Tears began streaming out Lester's eyes as he wrapped his arm around his Togekiss, crying into her soft body. Togekiss and Lester's other Pokemon all began to weep as well. They all surrounded their Trainer in a tight group hug, many tears falling to the floor.

For a good 10 minutes, they stayed in that position, all comforting Lester. He looked up and saw his Pokemon were all there to support him, none of them holding any blame on him for their current situation, just like it was 11 years ago. The last of his tears shed, Lester realized that his Pokemon were all he had to live for, and they were the ones that kept him going as he lived on the airship. He smiled up at his Pokemon.

"I'm sorry for acting up like that, and I assure all of you that I'm fine now." Lester bared his tattoo. "This mark represents all the control J has over us. Well, one day I promise all of you that we'll be free from all this. I will remove this mark the instant we are liberated, and I will find Dr. Bannon to treat my disorder. I sincerely believe that he may very well cure it. We don't have to survive anymore when that day comes, we can live! And you are all free to go wherever you desire, after all you were all forcefully brought into this because of Jane."

Lester's Pokemon widened their eyes. Was he planning on releasing them when he escaped from J? They shook their heads vigorously and huddled closer to their Trainer. They would stay with him for the rest of their lives. Lester let fresh tears fall again, touched by the feelings his Pokemon had toward him.

"You really mean it? You'll stay with me? Th-Thank y-you all, f-from the bottom of my h-heart. I'm thinking we can participate in the gym challenge when we are free. What do you say?" Lester's Pokemon all cheered as they lifted him on Venusaur's back. Tears dried, he looked down as his Pokemon finished the rest of their food. Ninjask and Shedinja flew up next to Lester while Charizard, Blastoise, and Togekiss gathered in front of Venusaur.

In whispers, Lester told his Pokemon that the cement prank was successful. He also told them about the honey prank he executed. Lester's Pokemon grinned in approval at his prank ideas. Since he committed the pranks in the middle of the night, he could just say that he was sleeping the whole time. No one knew that he had secretly made cement in the training room, and none of the other Elites suspected that Lester had obtained their room combinations. If they were changed, Lester could simply send Ninjask to obtain them again. Lester hoped that no one got suspicious about him sleeping in the next morning.

Lester got off Venusaur's back and smiled at his Pokemon. They smiled back, and he knew that he wanted no other team by his side than them. They would stick together for life, and nothing could change that. He walked over to the broken bottle, and his Pokemon helped him to clean the mess. Lester hoped that his team would never break or separate that way. The shards of glass represented a divided group, just like the Elites before they were brought together. Ash, the kind hearted boy Lester first met 3 years ago, had become what held all those shards together, just like Lester with his own Pokemon. They actually did have a lot in common, if one thought about it.

Giving his Pokemon one last hug, Lester recalled them and donned his jacket again, leaving the training room with the empty food dishes. He looked back at the room he first woke up inside on the airship 11 year ago. He had spent a lot of his time in there, training and bonding with his Pokemon. The doors of the training room closed as Lester went off to return the food dishes to the break room. Heading back to his room, Lester snuggled back into his bed, and closed his eyes. A new day was dawning, and a new hope for freedom had been established.

* * *

Author's Notes: That was one tough last chapter to write, probably because I was trying to find a suitable ending. As you can see, it chronicles Lester's tenure as an Elite. The first Elite status he has is juxtaposed against behavior that is not expected and not appreciated from him, as a way to make one wonder why J chose him. The only reason for that is probably because she doesn't want to waste the training her mother put him through by leaving him as a henchman. The confrontational office scene Lester has with J was actually quite fun to write, particularly since he keeps changing personalities. It appears that I have made him seem like a big chemist and mad prankster here, but it is to exhibit how far he will go to get pay back on someone for insulting him because of his mental condition. The cement prank is inspired from an act of vandalism performed on McDonald's toilets with cement by activists who protested the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. McDonald's was a sponsor of the Games, which was a reason for the vandalism. As Lester explained, that act required the complete replacement of the clogged toilets. In theory, one could actually make cement the same way Lestert did, provided that they gethered the needed materials and found an intense enough source of heat. Though mentioned, the other Elites are unnamed since they belong to other members of the site. As to who Lester actually pranked, that is up to Johan07 to decide, should mentions of the pranks be made in J's Apprentice. Of course, the honey prank was performed in an indiscriminate manner, since Lester had no idea who his intended target was, he just knows that the targets are among the people who would fall victim to the prank. Lester's comment on dihydrogen monoxide is a reference to a popular hoax poking fun at perceived lack of awareness toward formal chemical names. The hoax involved pretending that water was a highly dangerous substance and then listing some of its negative effects. The hoax's effectiveness also comes from the connection people make between dihydrogen monoxide and carbon monoxide, which is definitely a highly poisonous gas. If anyone is wondering, caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide, is a highly corrosive chemical used in heavy duty industrial cleaning to dissolve unwanted waste. It is also used to get rid of roadkill and has been used on occasion by murderers to get rid of the bodies of their victims. The Valley of Steel Lester goes to capture the giant Steelix appeares in the episode "All Torkoal, No Play", and it is the episode that Ash captures his Torkoal. The chapter also shows Lester's view on Ash, and he makes the observation that they are quite similar. It is indeed a good way to bond with someone. I included the scene at the end with Lester's Pokemon as a way for him to recap the events over the past 11 years. He went out of control briefly when he thought about how he was held captive by J, the tattoo being a definite indicator of that, which is why he wants it gone. The orphanage Lester was kidnapped from later became a botanical nursery, the same one that appears in the episode "Make Room for Gloom". Lester's thoughts about releasing his Pokemon under the belief that they will be happier is a reference to how Ash almost releases Pikachu in "Pikachu's Goodbye". His Pokemon's desire to stay with him is also a reference to Pikachu wanting to stay with Ash at the end of the same episode. Overall, I think it was a nice way to wrap up the story. I would like to thank Johan07 for patiently beta-reading and supporting this story throughtout all its chapters. This chapter is dedicated to Legendary Fairy for taking the time to review and support every chapter. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome. Flames will be deleted.


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